Ebook: Hollow Norms and the Responsibility to Protect
Author: Aidan Hehir
- Tags: Political Science and International Relations, International Relations, Development Aid, Political Science, Human Rights, Development Theory, Social Justice Equality and Human Rights
- Year: 2019
- Publisher: Springer International Publishing
- Edition: 1st ed.
- Language: English
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This book explains why there is a pronounced disjuncture between R2P's habitual invocation and its actual influence, and why it will not make the transformative progress its proponents claim. Rather than disputing that R2P is a norm, or declaring that norms are insignificant, Hehir engages with post-positivist constructivist accounts on the role of norms to demonstrate first, that the efficacy of a norm is not directly related to the extent to which it is proliferated or invoked, and second, that in the post-institutionalization phase, norms undergo both contestation and (potentially regressive) reinterpretation. This volume analyses the evolution of R2P, and demonstrates that it has been steadily circumscribed and co-opted, so that today it has no power to meaningfully influence the behaviour of states. It is essential reading for academic audiences in the disciplines of International Relations and International Law.