CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2018
| Author | Burke, Joseph William |
|---|---|
| Title | The Responsibility to Protect and the Syrian Civil War |
| Summary | This thesis examines the applicability of the Responsibility to Protect in the context of the Syrian civil war as well as the principle’s effectiveness for ending the conflict. It begins with a history of humanitarian intervention, focusing mainly developments from post-World War II until current day, while also analyzing the current legality of humanitarian intervention and the Responsibility to Protect. Next, it examines the case studies of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Libya, and Syria while using lessons learned from these conflicts to provide recommendations for the United States to engage in to end the Syrian conflict under the guise of the Responsibility to Protect. This thesis concludes that the Responsibility to Protect can be applied to the Syrian civil war, but as currently constituted the principle does not prevent a wide range of options to end the violence. While R2P does not provide a many avenues to end the conflict due to the present situation on the ground, it does provide the United States with a realistic and legal option under the guise of R2P in the form of a negotiated settlement. Geopolitical and other strategic interests of world powers, especially permanent members of the Security Council can prevent effective action from being taken under R2P, and the Syrian situation shows that the principle cannot be fully effective when these interests are present. If the United States or other international actors want to take the most effective action to end large-scale violence such as the Syrian civil war, they may need to resort to policies that fall outside R2P or even international law. |
| Supervisor | Ajevski, Marjan |
| Department | Legal Studies LLM |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2018/burke_joseph.pdf |
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