Norm consolidation and resistance: The responsibility to protect

Vincent A. Auger

Authors

Vincent A. Auger Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455, USA

Keywords:

responsibility to protect, international norms, United Nations

Abstract

The creation and acceptance of new norms in international relations has received considerable attention from scholars. However, not all new norms are successfully consolidated. Much less attention has been given to the ways in which attempts to consolidate new norms are resisted or defeated. This paper reviews the theoretical literature on international norm formation and offers several hypotheses concerning strategies of norm resistance. The paper then examines an ongoing effort at norm consolidation, the “responsibility to protect” or R2P. This norm was seemingly accepted at the 2005 World Summit at the United Nations, but has encountered significant resistance in the subsequent six years. The paper will examine the support for the hypotheses concerning norm resistance using the R2P case, and will conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and policy implications of norm resistance.

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