Degree Year
2013
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Politics
Advisor(s)
Stephen Crowley
Kristina Mani
Keywords
Responsibility to Protect, R2P, United Nations, Libya, Darfur, Kenya, Responsibility while protecting, Foreign policy
Abstract
This paper explores the emerging United Nations principle of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and how the three major theoretical schools of international relations "Constructivism, Liberalism, and Realism" can contribute to understanding and implementing R2P. Using the three pillar framework of R2P outlined by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2009, this paper asserts that striking parallels can be found between pillar and theory. By exploring each R2P pillar through a particular theoretical lens, this paper seeks to provide a cross-theoretical analysis of R2P and demonstrate the need for a rebalancing of heavily Realist political thought and foreign policy with the insights provided by Constructivism and Liberalism. Annual UN Secretary-General R2P reports and case studies from Darfur, Kenya, and Libya are explored.
Repository Citation
Muscott, Lauren, "Parallel Pillars: How International Relations Theory Can Explicate and Rebalance the Three Pillars of the Responsibility to Protect" (2013). Honors Papers. 334.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/334
