Citation

Carati A. Global Change Peace Secur. 2017; 29(3): 293-309.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/14781158.2017.1384719

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

One of the most challenging issues concerning the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is 'who should intervene' in case of gross violations of human rights. After the intervention in Kosovo in 1999, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been increasingly considered a legitimate actor to fulfil the duty to intervene for humanitarian reasons. In 2011, the first military intervention inspired by the R2P in Libya reinforced the appreciation of NATO as a viable enforcer of the doctrine. The paper problematizes the idea that NATO could be a straightforward solution to the problem of who should intervene. NATO's constitutive nature comprises aspects that are at odds with R2P as a normative scheme. In this regard, the paper delves into three aspects: (a) the controversial issue of 'delegated authority' from the UN to NATO; (b) the tension between the universalistic character of the R2P and the particularistic nature of NATO and (c) the military nature of the alliance and its consequent focus on security/military considerations that rarely, or just occasionally, match with humanitarian concerns. Finally, the paper analyses the intervention in Libya assessing the incongruities between NATO's military operations and the normative framework of R2P.

Language: en

Keywords

humanitarian intervention; Libya; NATO; Responsibility to protect (R2P)