GPPi co-hosts discussion with Michael Ignatieff in Berlin on the Responsibility to Protect
On 15 May 2013, in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation, GPPi hosted a discussion with writer, teacher and former politician Michael Ignatieff
on “The Responsibility to Protect in a Post-Western World, Mass Atrocities, the BRICS & the West.” The event took place at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin and was part of the foundation’s series called “Sicherheitspolitik im Wandel” (Security Politics in Transition).
Ignatieff is a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy Berlin. He is one of the most important intellectuals on questions regarding human rights and intervention. In 2001 he was a member of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, making a significant contribution to the development of the Responsibility to Protect concept, also known as R2P.
The cases of Libya and Syria have elevated R2P to the very top of the global agenda. Implementing R2P is a central challenge of a human rights oriented security policy in the 21st century. Yet, central questions on the implementation of R2P remain unanswered. Who decides when to intervene, with which means and according to what rules? What does effective prevention look like? What are the alternatives if the UN Security Council cannot agree on a common course of action? Almost 20 years after the Rwandan genocide, all these questions are more controversial than ever – within the West but particularly between the West and emerging powers like the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). These powers increasingly shape the global political agenda.
In his talk, Michael Ignatieff addressed whether R2P can last in a world where the West’s influence is diminishing. He addressed the BRICS’ agenda regarding R2P and outlined the differences between the democratic and non-democratic BRICS countries. Afterwards, GPPi Director Thorsten Benner moderated a discussion between Igantieff, Andrea Böhm of DIE ZEIT and Ralf Fücks, president of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
Videos and photos of the event are available here on the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung website.
For more information on the event please contact Barbara Assheuer from the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.
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This event is closely related to GPPi’s two-and-a-half-year research project called Global Norm Evolution and the Responsibility to Protect as well as a recent study conducted by GPPi on the Obama administration’s efforts regarding mass atrocity prevention.