Postscript

Abstract

The doctrine of R2P may have entered a new phase when the Syrian crisis, already tragic as it is, took an alarming turn towards the last quarter of 2013 with chemical weapons being deployed. This marked a significant escalation of the crisis, threatening a larger regional conflagration, with warnings of a possible third world war even raised. But an unexpected twist came when the Assad regime, amid US threats of a military intervention, conceded to global pressure for the first time since the Syrian crisis broke out and agreed to an international dismantling of Syria's chemical weapons. This surprising development raised hopes of a political solution to the Syrian crisis, backed by the P5, which if it comes to pass, will raise the credibility of R2P. Equally unexpected, however, was the rupture in US-Saudi relations—a casualty of Washington's high diplomacy with the Russians to break the international stalemate over Syria, which had come at the expense of Saudi influence and regional hegemony. These twists and turns in the geopolitics of intervention have raised one fundamental question: what is the future of R2P?