Reconstructing the Responsibility to Protect From Humanitarian Intervention to Human Security

List of Figures

Preface and Acknowledgements

Introduction: R2P, R.I.P.?

1          The Persistent Problem(s) of Humanitarian Intervention

2          The R2P ‘Solution’

3          Failure to Launch

4          Responsibility Revisited

5          Rethinking the Referent

Conclusion: Reconstructing R2P

Biography

Michael J. Butler is Associate Professor of International Relations and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the author/co-author or editor of six books and over two dozen peer-reviewed journal articles. He is a member of Sweden’s Folke Bernadotte Academy International Research Working Group on Dialogue, Mediation, and Peace Processes; a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect; and an affiliate with the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study. He has served as co-editor of the International Studies Intensives book series (Routledge) since 2016.

'We live in a time where the need for international commitment to protect populations in mass atrocity situations desperately needs to translate into practice. This book provides an important introspection into the misplaced assumptions and structural fault lines built into the Responsibility to Protect doctrine and advocacy since its inception. Butler argues that the tethering of R2P to humanitarian intervention foreclosed opportunity to consolidate a deeper-rooted agenda on human security at the turn of the century that was needed to address the drivers of atrocities. Butler does not lapse into cynicism, but rather imagines productive scope for reconstructing an emancipatory international politics of R2P with human security placed at the centre. This book advances a refreshing analysis to invigorate new discussions and is a valuable contribution to the literature on R2P and atrocity prevention.'

Cecilia Jacob, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, Coral Bell School of Asia-Pacific Affairs, Australian National University, Australia

'Work on humanitarian intervention and the Responsibility to Protect has been around for decades, but such volatile topics require a fresh perspective. In this stunningly comprehensive and accessible study, Butler’s unique achievement is equal parts inventory, history, and reconstruction. This book provides a useful introduction and overview for students and researchers interested in these phenomena. Yet Butler’s reconstruction of R2P via critical and constructivist approaches discloses a bold and admirable proposal for how to rethink, and repurpose, R2P for more productive and proactive avenues for reducing transnational security threats going forward.'

Brent J. Steele, Professor, Political Science Department, University of Utah, USA

'Butler’s parsing of the theoretical, moral, and practical implications of the responsibility to protect—past, present, and future—will provoke members of the choir and heretics as well. Cautious optimism nonetheless: ‘'R2P is dead. Long live R2P.’' '

Thomas G. Weiss, Presidential Professor Emeritus, Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The CUNY Graduate Center, USA

'Butler’s work is insightful, thorough, imaginative, and ambitious. His insight that R2P has not failed because it has never truly been implemented is original and profound. ...Ultimately, time will tell, but Butler’s work certainly provides ample evidence to give us pause to reconsider what we think we know about the responsibility to protect and the promise it may hold for the future of global politics.' 

Alexander Hall, E-International Relations, February 2025