The responsibility to protect Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

The responsibility to protect - Essay Example 1). There has always been a traditional emphasis on state sovereignty, which means that every nation state is free to govern its country and its people as it sees fit, without intervention from other countries. That said, there have always been threats to this sovereignty, due to the global nature of the world and nations who try to intervene for various purposes. However, until the early 2000s, there has not been a perspective that the sovereignty of nations should be compromised in the cases of mass genocide and the like, or at least there has not been the perspective that there should be a doctrine to address this, and that this doctrine should be viewed through the eyes of the victims. That all changed with the Responsibility to Protect doctrine. This doctrine, while imperfect, and viewed with a great deal of suspicion by many countries as a â€Å"Trojan Horse† through which nations can invade one another with ostensible humanitarian goals, has still been beneficial to som e extent, although has not seemed to go far enough in abating atrocities that have occurred around the world. This paper will examine the nature of sovereignty, the origins of the responsibility to protect, and the effect it has had on the world community since its inception. The Traditional Meaning of Sovereignty In order to better understand the concept of the responsibility to protect, and how it diverges from traditional understandings, one must understand the meaning of state sovereignty, which has been described as â€Å"a defining principle of interstate relations and the foundation of world order† (Supplement to the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty). Traditionally, nation-states have sovereignty, which means that each nation is free to rule over its people as it sees fit, and dispose of its resources in same manner. However, this power is not absolute, and it subjected to regulations and constraints from the international body (Internatio nal Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, p. 12). One of the traditional tenets of state sovereignty is the tenet that each nation respects other nation’s sovereignty, so that the policy of non-intervention is the international norm. If this is violated, and another nation penetrates a nation’s sovereignty, then the offended nation has the right to defend itself (International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, p. 12). The United Nations was the body that protected state sovereignty. However, the concept of state sovereignty has always been a tenuous one. The powerful typically invade the province of nations, and the globalization of today’s world recognizes that environmental, cultural and economic influences do not respect national borders, partly due to new technologies and advances in communication (Supplement to the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty) The traditional notion of sovereignty has further ev olved to where states agree that sovereignty is a responsibility. As such, states agree that protecting its citizens is a condition for maintaining its sovereignty. Further, as a condition of sovereignty, national leaders are accountable for their own actions, and nations are accountable to the international bodies for how that nation treats its populace (International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, p. 12). The Responsibility to Protect The Responsibilit