One of the worst conflicts that happened after the Cold war was the Rwanda Genocide in 1994, which can be defined as a crime against humanity. The Rwandan genocide had demonstrated the limits of state sovereignty and an emerging norm in international society; the Responsibility to Protect (hereafter R2P) has had significant developments both in academic and policy debate and has raised fundamental issues about the legitimacy and effectiveness of humanitarian intervention and the protection of civilians in international relations. Founded on the ideational underpinnings of humanitarian intervention, the doctrine has been confused to be a legitimization for military intervention in an era of a different understanding of state sovereignty and the response to mass atrocities. This article integrates both theoretical insights of neorealism and constructivism as well as discussions such as human security, national interest, and state sovereignty. This is done using data derived from qualitative research methods as a perspective exploring the framework of the R2P doctrine and the factors that justify the sanctioned UNSC use of force under the framework of the R2P in response to the systematic and widespread nature of the violence committed during the civil war in Libya between rebel forces and the Gaddafi regime in 2011. This article then analyses the (in)effectiveness of the military intervention under the framework of the R2P doctrine and the impacts of the military intervention on Libya, and the future of the doctrine using content analysis as the adopted methodology is influenced by the nature of the research problem and objectives using single case study research.
Cite this paper
Wamulume, W. G. , Tajari, A. and Sariburaja, K. (2022). (In)Effectiveness If Military Intervention under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P): A Case Study of Libya. Open Access Library Journal, 9, e8688. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1108688.
Luck, E.C. (2009) Sovereignty, Choice, and the Responsibility to Protect. Global Responsibility to Protect, 1, 10-21. https://doi.org/10.1163/187598409X405451
Focarelli, C. (2008) The Responsibility to Protect Doctrine and Humanitarian Intervention: Too Many Ambiguities for a Working Doctrine. Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 13, 191-213. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcsl/krn014
Pilbeam, B. (2015) The United Nations and the Responsibility to Protect. In: Hough, P., Moran, A., Pilbeam, B. and Stokes, W., Eds., International Security Studies: Theory and Practice, Routledge, New York, 287-305.
Dembinski, M. and Reinold, T. (2011) Libya and the Future of the Responsibility to Protect African and European Perspectives. Peace Research Institute, Frankfurt.
Chandler, D. (2010) R2P or Not R2P? More Statebuilding, Less Responsibility. Global Responsibility to Protect, 2, 161-166.
https://doi.org/10.1163/187598410X12602515137617
Arbour, L. (2008) The Responsibility to Protect as a Duty of Care in International Law and Practice. British International Studies Association, 34, 445-458.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210508008115
Moszkowicz, D. (2007) Michael Walzer’s Justification of Humanitarian Intervention: Communitarian? Cosmopolitan? Adequate? Political Theology, 8, 281-297.
https://doi.org/10.1558/poth.v8i3.281
Ray, A. (2012) Human Security. In: Peace Is Everybody’s Business: A Strategy for Conflict Prevention, Sage Publications, India, 68-80.
https://doi.org/10.4135/9788132114048.n5
Deng, F.M. (2010) From “Sovereignty as Responsibility” to the “Responsibility to Protect”. Global Responsibility to Protect, 2, 353-370.
https://doi.org/10.1163/187598410X519534
Pham, J.P. (2008) What Is in the National Interest? Hans Morgenthau’s Realist Vision and American Foreign Policy. The Journal of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, 30, 256-265. https://doi.org/10.1080/10803920802435245
Kolodziej, E.A. (2005) Realism, Neorealism and Liberal Institutionalism. In: Security and International Relations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 127-174.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511614903.005
Copeland, D.C. (2012) Realism and Neorealism in the Study of Regional Conflict. In: Paul, T.V., Ed., International Relations Theory and Regional Transformation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 49-73.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139096836.005
Wolf, K. (2012) R2P: A Case for Norm Localisation. In: Brosig, D.M., Ed., The Responsibility to Protect 2 from Evasive to Reluctant Action? The Role of Global Middle Powers, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Institute for Security Studies, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung & South African Institute of International Affairs, Johannesburg, 111-113.
Herta, L. (2019) Responsibility to Protect and Human Security in UN’s Involvement in Libya. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Studia Europaea, 64, 221-241.
https://doi.org/10.24193/subbeuropaea.2019.2.10
Silander, D. (2013) R2P—Principle and Practice? The UNSC on Libya. Journal of Applied Security Research, 8, 262-284.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19361610.2013.765340
Thakur, R. (2017) Human Security and Human Rights. In: The United Nations, Peace and Security, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 79-107.
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316819104.005
Weiss, T.G., et al. (2011) The Responsibility to Protect: Challenges & Opportunities in Light of the Libyan Intervention. https://www.e-ir.info/2011/08/31/whither-r2p/
Teimouri, H. and Subedi, S.P. (2018) Responsibility to Protect and the International Military Intervention in Libya in International Law: What Went Wrong and What Lessons Could Be Learnt from It? Journal of Conflict & Security Law, 23, 3-32.
https://doi.org/10.1093/jcsl/kry004
Brosig, M. (2012) Responsibility to Protect: The GIBSA Perspective. In: Brosig, M., Ed., The Responsibility to Protect 2 from Evasive to Reluctant Action? The Role of Global Middle Powers, HSF, ISS, KAS & SAIIA, Johannesburg, 1-8.
Melling, G. (2018) Beyond Rhetoric? Evaluating the Responsibility to Protect as a Norm of Humanitarian Intervention. Journal on the Use of Force and International Law, 5, 78-96. https://doi.org/10.1080/20531702.2018.1448156
Gilligan, E. (2013) Redefining Humanitarian Intervention: The Historical Challenge of R2P. Journal of Human Rights, 12, 21-39.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2013.754290
Seybolt, T.B. (2008) Controversies about Humanitarian Military Intervention. In: Humanitarian Military Intervention: The Conditions for Success and Failure, Oxford University Press, New York, 1-29.
Jubilut, L.L. (2012) Has the “Responsibility to Protect” Been a Real Change in Humanitarian Intervention? An Analysis from the Crisis in Libya. International Community Law Review, 14, 309-335. https://doi.org/10.1163/18719732-12341234
Glanville, L. (2012) Intervention in Libya: From Sovereign Consent to Regional Consent. International Studies Perspectives, 14, 325-342.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1528-3585.2012.00497.x
Serrano, M. and Weiss, T.G. (2014) Is R2P “Cascading”? In: Serrano, M. and Weiss, T.G., Eds., The International Politics of Human Rights Rallying to the R2P Cause? Routledge, New York, 1-27.
Welsh, J. (2011) Civilian Protection in Libya: Putting Coercion and Controversy Back into RtoP. Ethics in International Affairs, 25, 255-262.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0892679411000207
Thakur, R. (2013) R2P after Libya and Syria: Engaging Emerging Powers. The Washington Quarterly, 36, 61-76. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163660X.2013.791082
Babbitt, E.F. (2014) Mediation and the Prevention of Mass Atrocities. In: Serrano, M. and Weiss, T.G., Eds., The International Politics of Human Rights. Rallying to the R2P Cause? Routledge, New York, 29-44.
Adler-Nissen, R. and Pouliot, V. (2014) Power in Practice: Negotiating the International Intervention in Libya. European Journal of International Relations, 20, 889-911. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066113512702
Garwood-Gowers, A. (2015) R2P Ten Years after the World Summit: Explaining Ongoing Contestation over Pillar III. Global Responsibility to Protect, 7, 300-324.
https://doi.org/10.1163/1875984X-00704005
Wiener, A. (2009) Enacting Meaning-in-Use: Qualitative Research on Norms and International Relations. Review of International Studies, 35, 175-193.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210509008377
Evans, G.J. (2008) Reacting to Crisis: When Is it Right to Fight? In: The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocities Crimes Once and for All, Brookings Institution Press, Washington DC, 128-147.
Carati, A. (2017) Responsibility to Protect, NATO and the Problem of Who Should Intervene: Reassessing the Intervention in Libya. Global Change, Peace & Security, 29, 293-309. https://doi.org/10.1080/14781158.2017.1384719
Williamson, K., Given, L.M. and Scifleet, P. (2018) Qualitative Data Analysis. In: Williamson, K. and Johanson, G., Eds., Research Methods, Chandos Publishing, 453-476. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102220-7.00019-4
O’Shea, E. (2012) Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Libya: Ghosts of the Past Haunting the Future. International Human Rights Law Review, 1, 73-190.
https://doi.org/10.1163/22131035-00101010
Lopez, G. (2015) Responsibility to Protect at a Crossroads: The Crisis in Libya.
https://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledge_detail/responsibility-to-protect-at-a-crossroads-the-crisis-in-libya/
Akabum, L.T. (2016) The Current and the Potential Future Relevance of the Responsibility to Protect in the Light of Libya. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2868770
Crush, J. (2014) A Critical Assessment of the Application of Responsibility to Protect in Libya.
https://www.e-ir.info/2014/08/22/a-critical-assessment-of-the-application-of-responsibility-to-protect-in-libya/
Pattison, J. (2010) The Problem of Who Should Intervene. In: Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect: Who Should Intervene? Oxford University Press, New York, 1-36.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199561049.003.0001
Morris, J. (2015) The Responsibility to Protect and the Great Powers: The Tensions of Dual Responsibility. Global Responsibility to Protect, 7, 398-421.
https://doi.org/10.1163/1875984X-00704009
Fishel, S. (2013) Theorizing Violence in the Responsibility to Protect. Critical Studies on Security, 1, 204-218. https://doi.org/10.1080/21624887.2013.824650
Knight, W.A. (2011) The Development of the Responsibility to Protect—From Evolving Norm to Practice. Global Responsibility to Protect, 3, 3-36.
https://doi.org/10.1163/187598411X549468
Fiott, D. (2015) The Use of Force and the Third Pillar. In: Fiott, D. and Koops, J., Eds., The Responsibility to Protect and the Third Pillar: Legitimacy and Operationalization, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 130-145.
https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137364401_9
Odeyemi, C. (2016) R2P Intervention, BRICS Countries, and the No-Fly Zone Measure in Libya. Cogent Social Sciences, 2, Article ID: 1250330.
https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2016.1250330
Pape, R.A. (2012) When Duty Calls: A Pragmatic Standard of Humanitarian Intervention. International Security, 37, 41-80. https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00088
Bellamy, A. (2008) The Responsibility to Protect and the Problem of Military Intervention. International Affairs, 84, 615-639.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2008.00729.x
Todorov, T., Johnson, K.A. and Scheid, D.E. (2014) The Responsibility to Protect and the War in Libya. In: Scheid, D.E., Ed., The Ethics of Armed Humanitarian Intervention, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 46-58.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567589.005
Massingham, E. (2009) Military Intervention for Humanitarian Purposes: Does the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine Advance the Legality of the Use of Force for Humanitarian Ends? International Review of the Red Cross, 91, 803-831.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1816383110000068
Çubukçu, A. (2013) The Responsibility to Protect: Libya and the Problem of Transnational Solidarity. Journal of Human Rights, 12, 37-41.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2013.754291
Pattison, J. (2011) The Ethics of Humanitarian Intervention in Libya. Ethics & International Affairs, 25, 271-277. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0892679411000256
Thakur, R. (2011) Libya and the Responsibility to Protect: Between Opportunistic Humanitarianism and Value-Free Pragmatism. Security Challenges, 7, 13-25.
Gärtner, H. (2011) The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and Libya. Österreichisches Institut für Internationale Politik (OIIP), 16, 106-113.
https://doi.org/10.1163/15736512-90000100
Badescu, C.G. (2011) The Responsibility to Protect Sovereignty and Human Rights. In: Bellamy, A.J., Davies, S.E. and Serrano, M., Eds., Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect. Security and Human Rights, Routledge, London, 47.
Doyle, M.W. (2015) The Politics of Global Humanitarianism: The Responsibility to Protect before and after Libya. International Politics, 53, 14-31.
https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2015.35
Almeida, P.W. (2014) Brazilian View of Responsibility to Protect from “Non-Indifference” to “Responsibility While Protecting”. Global Responsibility to Protect, 6, 29-63. https://doi.org/10.1163/1875984X-00601003
Hobson, C. (2016) Responding to Failure: The Responsibility to Protect after Libya. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 44, 433-454.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829816640607
Luck, E.C. (2011) The Responsibility to Protect: The First Decade. Global Responsibility to Protect, 3, 387-399. https://doi.org/10.1163/187598411X603025
