ABSTRACT
The United Nations (UNs) does not lack critics, but even steadfast opponents of the organisation begrudgingly acknowledge two singular contributions that it has made to the use of armed forces in the service of international security: operationally, in peacekeeping; normatively, in exercising the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). The UN’s traditional peacekeeping and more robust contemporary peace operations are notable contributions to conflict management. R2P interventions require UN-mandated, but not UN-led, war fighting against a sovereign state; but UN peace operations are still consent-based and located at the lower end of lethal military action, despite having become more robust in recent years. The R2P has gradually taken root in the international normative landscape since the release of the December 2001 report by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, which coined the phrase ‘R2P’ to move beyond diplomatic pitched battles about humanitarian intervention.
