ABSTRACT
Thirty years after the end of the Cold War, the world remains polarized and divided. Even as major powers are pressured to intervene in conflict-affected countries on humanitarian grounds, they are also turning inwards and scaling back efforts to support democratic reforms in other parts of the world. When they seek to intervene, their efforts are often blocked or constrained by assertion of sovereignty by the targeted governments. These developments are contributing to the erosion of international concepts of state responsibility, norms and institutions. On the one hand, the international community increasingly demands that states assume national responsibility and accountability for populations under their jurisdiction, and in so doing recasts sovereignty as a concept of responsibility for the security and general welfare of the citizens. Yet, at the same time, the international community has proven unable to intervene effectively to protect civilian populations in major crisis situations, such as those affecting countries in the Horn of Africa, where states are failing to effectively discharge their responsibility. This situation calls for a more cost-effective sharing of responsibility, with the Africans assuming the primary role and their international partners lending a complementary affirmative, helping hand, using a combination of both persuasive and coercive incentives for normative performance.
