The dogs that didn't bark: A critique of actions taken under the auspices of the 'Responsibility to Protect'

Abstract

In the aftermath of World War II, the world faced an important
question: What should be done about foreign governments who subject their
citizens to horrific mass atrocities? The international community has
attempted to effectively answer this question since World War II ended in
1945. In recent years, a proposed international norm called the Responsibility
to Protect (R2P) has formulated in an attempt to provide a solution. The R2P
doctrine stipulates that military intervention should be the last course of action
when considering how to respond to human rights violations. As a result, this
does not mean that there was no action taken to facilitate peace in
humanitarian cases where traditional military intervention was not deployed.
This dissertation will be an examination of what has so far been achieved in
humanitarian cases that have otherwise been written off as non-actions. The
purpose of this dissertation is to critically assess the efficacy of R2P in
international society by evaluating the forms of non-violent engagement taken
under its auspices.