In Defence of Humanitarian Intervention and the Potential of International Law

R2P has come to dominate the discourse on humanitarian intervention and today serves as a unifying concept for those eager to ‘do something’ in response to intra-state atrocities. Advocates of humanitarian intervention now invariably champion R2P, though the category ‘R2P supporters’ is undeniably broad and heterogeneous. It almost seems, nonetheless, that if one is in favour of humanitarian intervention one must support R2P, whatever reservations one may hold about the idea. The fact that people with often conflicting perspectives find reasons for aligning with R2P is illustrative of the concept’s virtual monopoly as the pro-intervention framework and evidence of R2P’s dramatic ascendency.