GPPi and partners hold research workshop on global norm evolution and the Responsibility to Protect

From 25 – 27 September 2013, the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt and GPPi co-organised a workshop that brought together the global team of researchers working jointly on the project Global Norm Evolution and the Responsibility to Protect. Almost 11 months after the start of the project, the group discussed progress made and prepared the second phase of the project. 

The research project seeks to provide a comprehensive in-depth analysis of global norm evolution and normative conflict. It focuses on a crucial case: the evolution of a ​“responsibility to protect” individuals from mass atrocities. This emerging and contested norm challenges the foundations of the existing global order and has become the subject of intense global debate. 

From 2012 – 2015, the research is being carried out by individuals from seven academic institutions in China, India, Brazil, and across Europe. 

During the workshop in Frankfurt, the research teams discussed draft case studies analyzing domestic debates and international positions on the responsibility to protect in Brazil, China, India, Russia, South Africa, the United States and Europe. Christopher Daase and Nicole Deitelhoff, both professors at Goethe University’s Cluster of Excellence ​“Normative Orders,” offered critical reflections on key conceptual questions of norm evolution and contestation. Participants were also joined by Andreas Nölke, professor of international relations at Goethe University Frankfurt, who gave a talk about emerging powers’ preferences on the evolution of global economic norms. 

The project is generously funded by a grant from the Volkswagen Foundation in cooperation with two other foundations, Compagnia di San Paolo and the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. 

All project team members participated in the workshop. More details can be found in the Global Norm Evolution and the Responsibility to Protect project section.