Not the ‘Fairest Norm of Them All’ but Still Needed: On Hobson and Criticism of the Responsibility to Protect

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) – a commitment to prevent and respond to mass atrocity crimes – has often come under fire. In my contribution to this forum, I wish to respond to some points raised by Christopher Hobson’s interesting article titled The Moral Untouchability of the Responsibility to Protect. In doing so, I offer some thoughts about the direction of scholarship on R2P, arguing that, despite its flaws, abandoning the R2P doctrine would do nothing to help confront the persistent reality of mass atrocity violence.