Liberal Democracies and the Responsibility to Protect: Lessons from Syria

This book critically examines how the international norm of the Responsibility to Protect has been effectively limited by its interpretation by liberal states.

Under the Responsibility to Protect, states agree to use ‘diplomatic, humanitarian, and other peaceful means’ to help protect populations – often refugees – from mass atrocities when the state is ‘manifestly failing’ to do so. Through an analysis of official discourse, as well as interviews with government officials and civil society ...