Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book seeks to understand the responsibility and capability of multinational organizations (MNO) concerning humanitarian crises, such as in Syria. The historical developments of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle include the 2001 report by the International Commission on Intervention and States Sovereignty (ICISS) setting out the responsibility of the international community for when states fail to safeguard their people from mass atrocities. The 2005 UN Outcome Document stressed the need to require UN authority for R2P actions taken by MNOs. Today, although the efforts to remove chemical weapons are occurring, the Syrian government has the upper hand in the conflict. The war-weary Syrian public stumbles through a country that has been ravaged by civil war. In the post-Cold War era, scholars have demonstrated how such states have failed in the core functions of statehood, resulting in domestic chaos and threatening international peace.