Beham & Janik: A ‘Responsibility to Democratise’? The ‘Responsibility to Protect’ in Light of Regime Change and the ‘Pro-Democratic’ Intervention Discourse

Markus P. Beham (Univ. of Vienna - Law) & Ralph R.A. Janik (Univ. of Vienna - Law) have posted A ‘Responsibility to Democratise’? The ‘Responsibility to Protect’ in Light of Regime Change and the ‘Pro-Democratic’ Intervention Discourse (in Beyond Responsibility to Protect: Generating Change in International Law, R.A. Barnes & V.P. Tzevelekos eds., 2016). Here's the abstract:

We argue that R2P has transformed the discourse on Libya and Syria by clothing a democratic agenda with humanitarian wording. What is referred to as R2P plays out in practice as what could be called a ‘responsibility to democratise’. Regime change is the underlying tenor. Thereby, these cases should be viewed as not only standing within the tradition of humanitarian intervention but also as part of ‘pro-democratic’ intervention discourse. However, rather than synthesising the two in common perception, the concept of R2P has somewhat claimed both cases for itself and cloaked the idea of democratisation, a notion that might be perceived as ‘Western’ imperialism.