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1 Global Resp. Protect 392 (2009)
The Responsibility to Protect, Norm Localisation, and African International Society

handle is hein.journals/gloresp1 and id is 406 raw text is: MARTINUS NIJHOFF PUBLISH E R S Global Responsibility to Protect 1 (2009) 392-416 brill.nl/gr2p The Responsibility to Protect, Norm Localisation, and African International Society* Paul D. Williams George Washington University Abstract For its advocates, the 'responsibility to protect' (R2P) principle is clearly intended to be a universal concept, applicable equally to all parts of the globe. Yet recent literature examining the processes of norm diffusion in international relations has suggested that so-called universal norms do not automatically become embedded in different regions of the world and hence com- mitment to them varies depending on the local context. This article explores this issue with refer- ence to how members of African international society have thought about the R2P idea. To do so it proceeds in two parts. The first summarises what I mean by African international society and the process of norm localization. In the second, I explore the current status of the R2P idea within the African society of states with reference to six illustrative episodes. These concern: 1) the building of Africa's new peace and security architecture; 2) the debate surrounding the adoption of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document; 3) UN Security Council debates about the protection of civilians in armed conflict; 4) the African Union's response to the conflict in Darfur, Sudan; 5) the UN Secretary-General's appointment of a special adviser on R2P; and 6) African international societys response to the crisis in Zimbabwe. I conclude by reflecting upon what these episodes reveal about the current status of the R2P within African international society and the extent to which different camps are emerging that articulate different local posi- tions on, and express varying degrees of skepticism about, the protection principle. Keywords Africa; African Union; international society; World Summit; civilian protection; Darfur; Zimbabwe Introduction Writing in February 2008, Desmond Tutu lamented that although the inter- national reaction to Kenya's post-election violence in late 2007 was an example of the 'responsibility to protect' (R2P) in action, 'more must be done to bring * I would like to thank Alex Bellamy as well as the journals anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this article. @ Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI 10. 1163/187598409X450820

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