Critics or Courtiers? R2P and the Status Quo

Abstract

This chapter argues that Responsibility to Protect (R2P), despite repeated claims regarding its ostensibly transformative agenda, is an inherently conservative project. It is clear that respect for human rights has diminished while support for R2P amongst states has grown, yet R2P’s supporters have sought to obscure this disjuncture by proffering a narrative of “success”—and future progress—which lacks empirical and theoretical coherence. I thus argue that R2P is an inherently conservative project which, by virtue of its affirmation of the status quo, impels its supporters to exaggerate the responsiveness of the existing system to R2P. I illustrate this by examining the “R2P Focal Points ” campaign which evidences this preference for garnering and celebrating rhetorical support amongst states rather than challenging state power or imposing constraints on state behaviour.