The responsibility to protect and the great powers: the tensions of dual responsibility

Morris, Justin

Abstract

Since the UN’s 2005 adoption of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) the five permanent members (P5) of the organisation’s Security Council have been burdened with a special dual responsibility, entailing a special responsibility to maintain international peace and security, and a special responsibility to assist those imperilled by the mass atrocity crimes of their home state. The tensions which can arise within this dual responsibility is a largely under-explored aspect of the R2P literature. But consideration of it helps explain why, despite differing views over how best to balance individual and state rights, at times accentuated by clashing interests, the P5 have nevertheless found common R2P ground, most particularly in their largely concerted opposition to the idea of a ‘responsibility not to veto’ R2P-related resolutions within the Council.

Citation

Morris, J. (2015). The responsibility to protect and the great powers: the tensions of dual responsibility. Global Responsibility to Protect, 7(3-4), 398-421. https://doi.org/10.1163/1875984x-00704009

• Acceptance Date: Jul 31, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jul 31, 2015
• Publication Date: Oct 30, 2015
• Deposit Date: Apr 27, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 10, 2018
• Journal: Global responsibility to protect
• Print ISSN: 1875-9858
• Electronic ISSN: 1875-984X
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 3-4
• Pages: 398-421
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/1875984x-00704009
• Keywords: Great powers; International order; Responsibility not to veto; Dual responsibility
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/437193
• Publisher URL: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/1875984x-00704009
• Additional Information: Authors' accepted manuscript of article published in: Global responsibility to protect, 2015, v.7, issue 3-4.