Considering the Argument for the Cosmopolitan Responsibility to Protect

Abstract

This chapter traces back the normative foundation of the cosmopolitan argument and explains why given the changes in the global geo-strategic context induced by globalization, liberal states have a cosmopolitan responsibility to protect strangers under threat. The chapter first of all discusses the concept of humanitarian intervention and the underlying cosmopolitan responsibility from a philosophical point of view through the prism of Just War theory. Second, it investigates to what extent international law might hold a legal base for the protection of strangers over the protection of state sovereignty. Third, the chapter fuses the moral and legal debate when discussing how the international community has given new meaning to the cosmopolitan debate through their practise in the post-1990 era on the road to developing the ethical norm of the responsibility to protect (R2P).