Norm compliance by proximity

International military interventions in Libya and Côte d'Ivoire in 2011 revealed that regional and sub-regional organisations are playing an increasingly active and important role in the implementation of Responsibility to Protect (RtoP). However, the academic and policy analyses of RtoP have not thus far presented any comprehensive model to explain the emergence of regional actors in RtoP. This article develops and applies a four-fold taxonomy, according to which the unique powers of regional actors in initiating and implementing RtoP can be attributed to four types of compliance effects. First, regional actors themselves can directly promote RtoP for either normative or strategic reasons. Second, they can wield either normative or strategic compliance pull on other actors, such as the permanent members of the UN Security Council, which is an indirect but effective way to implement RtoP. As a benefit, this taxonomy reveals the diversity and depth of compliance effects wielded by regional actors in the RtoP process. The powers of regional actors in RtoP are realised on multiple fronts, rather than through a singular channel. This conclusion challenges the whole conception of RtoP by demonstrating that the traditional two-layered idea of RtoP developed in the mainstream literature, according to which RtoP is composed of the levels of international society and its member states, should be replaced with a tri-layered conception which also recognises the emerging middle level of regional actors. Notes Dr Touko Piiparinen currently works as a research fellow in the Global Security programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Helsinki. His areas of expertise include humanitarian intervention, conflict management, post-conflict peace-building, critical realist methodology in International Relations theory and the United Nations system. 1. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN General Assembly's informal interactive thematic debate on the Responsibility to Protect organised in New York on 12 July 2011. See CitationUN, 'History of Atrocity Crimes'. 2. CitationUN, '2005 World Summit Outcome', 30. 3. See, for example, CitationBellamy, 'The Responsibility to Protect—Five Years On', 143. 4. Ramesh Thakur, 'UN Breathes Life into "Responsibility to Protect"'. Toronto Star, 21 March 2011. According to Alex Bellamy and Paul Williams, the Libya mission marks the first time since the NATO-led Operation Allied Force in Kosovo in 1999 that a humanitarian intervention was implemented against the wishes of the government of a functioning state. CitationBellamy and Williams, 'The New Politics of Protection?', 825. 5. The term 'regional actors' applied in this article refers to sub-regional and regional organisations and countries in the region. 6. CitationUN, 'Resolution 2014'. 7. For example, the journal specialising in RtoP, Global Responsibility to Protect, published a special issue on RtoP and Africa in autumn 2010. See CitationSarkin and Paterson, 'Introduction'. 8. By drawing upon the cases of Libya and Côte d'Ivoire, Alex Bellamy and Paul Williams describe regional actors as 'gatekeepers' of RtoP which have the power to influence which issues get debated in the Security Council and how they are framed in terms of RtoP. Bellamy and Williams, 'The New Politics of Protection', 826. 9. CitationWeber, 'Politics as a Vocation', 121. 10. CitationFinnemore and Sikkink, 'International Norm Dynamics', 887–917. In the third stage, a norm acquires a taken-for-granted status and is no longer subject to broad public debate (Ibid., 895). That stage has not fully materialised with the RtoP norm, and is therefore not discussed in this article. 11. CitationFinnemore and Sikkink, 'International Norm Dynamics', 887–917. In the third stage, a norm acquires a taken-for-granted status and is no longer subject to broad public debate (Ibid., 895). That stage has not fully materialised with the RtoP norm, and is therefore not discussed in this article 12. CitationDeng et al., Sovereignty as Responsibility; CitationCohen, Human Rights Protection, 1. 13. CitationUN, 'Implementing the Responsibility to Protect', 15–22. 14. Finnemore and Sikkink, 'International Norm Dynamics', 895. 15. CitationAfrican Development Bank, Conflict Resolution. 16. UN, 'History of Atrocity Crimes'. 17. UN, 'History of Atrocity Crimes' 18. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been an outspoken supporter of international assistance to regional and sub-regional military capabilities and their further development, including those of the African Standby Force. CitationUN, 'The Role of Regional and Sub-Regional Arrangements', 9. 19. African Union, 'The AU Commission and the Eastern Africa Standby Force Co-ordination Mechanism Sign a Memorandum of Understanding to Deploy Personnel to AMISOM'. Press release, 19 August 2011. 20. See, for example, BBC News, 'Ivory Coast: Besieged Gbagbo "in Basement" of Residence'. 5 April 2011. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12967610 [Accessed 3 April 2012]. 21. See, for example, CitationCook, 'Côte d'Ivoire's Post-Election Crisis'. 22. CitationSecurity Council Report, 'Update Report No. 3'. 23. Cook, Côte d'Ivoire's Post-Election Crisis, 1. 24. CitationPerry, 'The Specter of Genocide', 26. 25. CitationPerry, 'The Specter of Genocide', 26 26. Sir Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations. BBC News Africa, 'Why UN Acted over Libya and Ivory Coast—But Not Syria'. 15 May 2011. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13389470. [Accessed 17 August 2011]. 27. This term refers to the official definition of RtoP, outlined in the UN World Summit Outcome: '[W]e [the signatories] are prepared to take collective action, in a timely and decisive manner [...] should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity'. UN, '2005 World Summit Outcome', 30 (emphasis added by author). 28. CitationUN, 3, 'Resolution 1973'. 29. CitationLAS, 'The Outcome of the Council'. 30. See, for example, Bellamy and Williams, 'The New Politics of Protection', 846. 31. On the theory of compliance pull and its critiques, see, for example, CitationKoh, 'How Is International', 1404. 32. CitationHaas, 'Introduction'; CitationAdler and Haas, 'Conclusion'. 33. See, for example, CitationBarnett and Finnemore, Rules for the World, 29–33. 34. Bellamy and Williams, 'The New Politics of Protection', 826. 35. LAS, 'The Outcome of the Council'. 36. LAS, 'The Outcome of the Council' 37. This term is applied in the communique issued by the CitationAU Peace and Security Council on 10 March 2011. AU, 1, 'Communique'. 38. Article 51 of the Additional Protocol I (1977) to the Geneva Conventions (1949) regarding the protection of the civilian population explicitly prohibits indiscriminate attacks against civilians and defines an 'indiscriminate attack' as, among others, 'an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated'. 39. In the Rome Statute, a crime against humanity is defined as 'widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack'. 40. Perry, 'The Specter of Genocide', 26. 41. UN, Citation3, 'Resolution 1975'. 42. Bellamy and Williams, 'The New Politics of Protection', 843. 43. CitationUN, 10, '6498th meeting'. 44. CitationMattlin and Nojonen, 'Horjuuko'. 45. Finnemore and Sikkink, 'International Norm Dynamics', 903. 46. UN, 'Implementing the Responsibility to Protect'. 47. UN, 'Implementing the Responsibility to Protect', 11. 48. When asked whether the periodic review system could be realised in the near future, Professor Luck replied: 'Not at this point. I had said from the beginning that I want there to be no surprises to member states [while drafting the Secretary-General's report on RtoP], so we tried to stick to the original meaning of Paragraphs 138 and 139 on RtoP in the UN World Summit Outcome. The periodic review system probably came closest to a surprise. What we are talking about now is the possibility of the General Assembly asking the Secretary-General to identify best practices [of RtoP] in different parts of the world'. Interview with Professor Edward Luck, New York, 19 March 2009. 49. Notes of the author taken at the UN General Assembly's general debate on RtoP, New York, 23–28 July 2009. 50. It is estimated that 1,300 people died and tens of thousands were forcibly displaced. 51. The acronym EAC applied here refers to the East African Community. 52. CitationNdulo, 'Responsibility to Protect Populations', 6. 53. UN, 'The Role of Regional and Sub-Regional Arrangements', 11. 54. Quoted in Mike Wooldridge, 'Syria's Arab Neighbours Pile Pressure on Assad Regime'. BBC News, 8 August 2011. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14453117. [Accessed 18 August 2011]. 55. CitationBellamy, Responsibility to Protect, 66–97. 56. Quoted in CitationLuck, 'Sovereignty', 17–18. 57. Notes of the author taken at the UN General Assembly's informal interactive thematic debate on RtoP, New York, 23–28 July 2009. 58. CitationUN, 'Resolution 63/308'. 59. UN, 'The Role of Regional and Sub-Regional Arrangements'. 60. CitationGowan and Sherman, Peace Operations Partnerships, 1. 61. CitationGowan, 'Don't Write off the Arab League'. 62. BBC World, 'Russia and China Veto Resolution on Syria at UN'. 4 February 2012. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-16890107 [Accessed 9 August 2012]. 63. BBC World, 'Russia and China Veto Resolution on Syria at UN', 4 February 2012. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-16890107 [Accessed 9 August 2012] 64. CitationGowan, 'The U.N. Security Council'. 65. See, for example, Bellamy, Responsibility to Protect. 66. CitationGvosdev, 'The Realist Prism'. 67. CitationUN, 'Resolution 1970'. 68. CitationUN, 'Resolution 1973'. 69. Rettman, 'EU Welcomes Watered-Down UN Text'. 70. The draft faced resistance in the Council not only from Russia, China and Lebanon, but also from South Africa, Brazil and India. These countries had adjusted their position on RtoP interventions to a more skeptical direction in the aftermath of the Libya case. The draft was consequently dropped and replaced with a much softer instrument to tackle the crisis, namely the Presidential Statement issued by the Security Council on 3 August 2011. See UN Statement. 71. See, for example, Bellamy, 'The Responsibility to Protect—Five Years On', 143. 72. Interview with Nicholas Haysom, New York, 29 November 2011. 73. Interview with Nicholas Haysom, New York, 29 November 2011 74. CitationPeltonen, 'Sovereignty as Responsibility', 68

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