Conclusion: The Responsibility to Protect after Libya

Abstract

In 2010, Francis Deng, often credited as the first to articulate a ‘responsibility’ on the part of states to protect humanity in times of crisis, questioned whether the Responsibility to Protect doctrine actually presented anything ‘new’. Since its first publication in 2001, the R2P doctrine has been one of the most debated, and perhaps overhyped, issues on the global agenda. Its champions maintain that human security is the way forward, and that states have begun to recognize the limitations of Westphalian sovereignty, while starting to comprehend their inherent responsibility towards their own citizens, and those of other states as well. Prior to Resolution 1973 and the UN mission in Libya, empirical cases to support the claims of R2P proponents were difficult to find. With Libya now under new leadership and the removal of a 40-year-long dictatorship, is R2P to credit for such success?