Civilian Protection in Libya: Putting Coercion and Controversy Back into RtoP

TLDR

The international community’s response to civilian deaths in Libya was unusual, as Security Council Resolution 1973 authorized all‑necessary measures without host‑state consent and diplomacy yielded a swift decisive outcome unlike other crises such as Darfur. These coercive intentions and rapid decisive response suggest analysts must revise their previously pessimistic assessments of contemporary international politics.

Abstract

As noted by other contributors to this roundtable, the response of the international community to civilian deaths in Libya—and the threat of further mass atrocities—is unusual in two key respects. First, Security Council Resolution 1973 authorized “all necessary measures” to protect civilians without the consent of the “host” state. The Council's intentions, and actions, could not be interpreted as anything other than coercive. Second, in contrast to other crises involving alleged crimes against humanity (most notably Darfur), diplomacy produced a decisive response in a relatively short period of time. Both of these features suggest that many analysts of intervention (including myself) need to revise their previously pessimistic assessments of what is possible in contemporary international politics.