Author(s)

Wamulume George Wamulume, Arvin Tajari, Kennimrod Sariburaja

International Relations Program, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

One of the worst conflicts that happened after the Cold war was the Rwanda Genocide in 1994, which can be defined as a crime against humanity. The Rwandan genocide had demonstrated the limits of state sovereignty and an emerging norm in international society; the Responsibility to Protect (hereafter R2P) has had significant developments both in academic and policy debate and has raised fundamental issues about the legitimacy and effectiveness of humanitarian intervention and the protection of civilians in international relations. Founded on the ideational underpinnings of humanitarian intervention, the doctrine has been confused to be a legitimization for military intervention in an era of a different understanding of state sovereignty and the response to mass atrocities. This article integrates both theoretical insights of neorealism and constructivism as well as discussions such as human security, national interest, and state sovereignty. This is done using data derived from qualitative research methods as a perspective exploring the framework of the R2P doctrine and the factors that justify the sanctioned UNSC use of force under the framework of the R2P in response to the systematic and widespread nature of the violence committed during the civil war in Libya between rebel forces and the Gaddafi regime in 2011. This article then analyses the (in)effectiveness of the military intervention under the framework of the R2P doctrine and the impacts of the military intervention on Libya, and the future of the doctrine using content analysis as the adopted methodology is influenced by the nature of the research problem and objectives using single case study research.

R2P, Military Intervention, Libya, Legitimacy, (In)Effectiveness

Wamulume, W.G., Tajari, A. and Sariburaja, K. (2022) (In)Effectiveness If Military Intervention under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P): A Case Study of Libya. Open Access Library Journal, 9, 1-22. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1108688.