The people vs. the state: reflections on UN authority, US power and the responsibility to protect

Abstract

Professor Ramesh Thakur, former Senior Vice Rector of the United Nations University and UN Assistant Secretary-General, is sometimes described as one of the intellectual godfathers of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Based in our common humanity, R2P is an acceptance of a duty of care by those living in safety towards those trapped in zones of danger. It aims to convert a shocked international conscience into timely and decisive collective action to rescue vulnerable communities so that groups condemned to die in fear can live in hope instead. For more than a decade, Thakur has been deeply.