TWAIL and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as a New Instrument of Domination: the Case of Libya

Abstract

Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) points to the interactions between international law and colonial legacy and problematizes the concepts of humanitarian intervention and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) within this framework. Humanitarian intervention is usually discussed in relation to its legitimacy in international law and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. TWAIL, however, analyzes those interventions that are constructed through discourses of human rights and democracy, highlighting the importance of issues other than legality and legitimacy. A historical reading of the Libyan case through the prism of TWAIL not only provides us with an opportunity to assess TWAIL’s assumptions in relation to international law, humanitarian intervention and R2P but also reveals how international law and R2P are used to legitimize interventions of the West into the Third World.

Keywords

Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), Humanitarian Intervention, Responsibility to Protect (R2P), Intervention in Libya.

Citation

Kelleci, Tuğçe and Bodur Ün, Marella, “TWAIL and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as a New Instrument of Domination: the Case of Libya“, International Relations, Volume 14, Issue 56, 2017, pp. 89-104.

Affiliations

• Tuğçe KELLECİ, Research Assistant, Department of International Relations, Ankara University
• Marella BODUR ÜN, Assistant Professor Dr., Department of Political Science and International Relations, Çukurova University