ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the conceptual framework empirical analyses of India's position on the responsibility to protect (R2P) norm. It explores the specific Indian identity discourses which shape India's position on R2P and its responses to humanitarian crises. The core logics of each of these identity discourses, and how they can be distinguished from one another across three 'axes of difference'. The chapter focuses on domestic-level Indian identity discourses to explain India's policy responses to R2P, it must obviously also consider what global norms are and what they do. Their relationship with the various domestic identity discourses therefore requires sustained consideration. Norms are therefore one type or sub-category of discursive structures, while domestic identity discourses are another, but the latter are only 'relevant to' a single actor. The motives of the domestic actors who support the diffusion of a particular global-level norm have been conceptualised in ways in the norm dynamics literature.
