Paving the way from principle to practice

This article discusses the potential of the "responsibility to protect" (R2P).

Clearly, while consensus on the r2p is broad but still feeble, many challenges remain and need to be addressed if this 'emerging doctrine' is to fulfil the hope to bring about effective responses to 'another Srebrenica'. Even among his peers in international law, scepticism remains when it comes to the question of whether the r2p debate is actually engendering anything new – after all, he reminded the audience of a common criticism: that there are already many obligations entailed within existing international law. Also, the applied tool box of policies, such as military planning and rule of law programmes, already concern many aspects that are envisaged under r2p responses.

The Broker Online 2010

The Broker is an independent platform and online magazine on globalisation and development, bringing together cutting-edge knowledge and expert opinions from researchers, policymakers and practitioners.