The Politics of the Responsibility to Protect: Why States Are Not Authorising the UN to Implement the R2P

This thesis looks at the discussion of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) at the UN General Assembly, tracing its adoption by consensus at the 2005 World Summit to the informal interactive debate of the General Assembly in September 2014. In responding to the question of why the R2P has not been implemented by the UN, this thesis finds that the proponents of the General Assembly have not been able to introduce an enabling resolution on the R2P because of the number of indeterminate states within the system. These are states that have either taken a stand that is neither in favour nor against the implementation of the R2P, or which have not made statements on the subject, thereby making it difficult to predict which way they would vote on such an enabling resolution.

Using a neoclassical realist lens, this thesis focuses on two specific states – Malaysia and India – as case studies of the multilateral negotiations and debates on the R2P. It draws upon original elite interviews with the foreign policy makers of both countries and analyses the strategies used by Malaysia and India in the discussions of the R2P implementation at the UN General Assembly.