Norm evolution within and across the African Union and the United Nations

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as a contested norm

Bibliographic Data

ID5725006
AuthorsNatalie Zähringer (0000-0003-4451-6335, University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume20
Issue2
Pages187-205
Publication date2013-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSouth African Journal of International Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1022-0461 • E-ISSN: 1938-0275
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10220461.2013.811336
OpenAlexW2086981328
LanguageEN
Citations received7

This article examines the evolution of the responsibility to protect (R2P) norm through the institutional frameworks of the African Union and the United Nations. The investigation aligns itself with recent constructivist thinking around norm evolution and contestation which holds that diverging interpretations around norms facilitate not only norm contestation, but ultimately norm acceptance. In this case different ‘meanings-in-use’ of R2P within and across both organisations reinforce the contested nature of R2P. This becomes most apparent in the prevailing confusion around the affiliated concept of the protection of civilians, which is not effectively delineated from R2P. Nevertheless R2P is found to be widely acknowledged within both organisations

International law · Political economy · Political science · Responsibility to Protect · Sociology · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Human Rights and Development · International Development and Aid · Law

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