A Postcolonial Critique of Responsibility to Protect in the Middle East

Year 2015, Volume: 20 Issue: 1, 7 - 36, 01.04.2015

Mojtaba Mahdavı

Abstract

This article is a postcolonial critique of the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect R2P in the Middle East. It problematizes a selective, arbitrary and punitive implementation of international law in Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Libya and Syria. It proposes that the hegemonic neo-liberal discourse of Humanitarianism and a paternalistic legacy of Orientalism have reinforced policing language of human rights and widened the gap between the ethical norms and their practice in global politics. A postcolonial critique of R2P calls for decolonizing and emancipating global ethical norms from the hegemonic discourse of neo-liberal order; striving for a consistent, just, people-centered, and fair implementation of norms; pushing for radical reforms in the UN; empowering regional and subaltern organizations; mobilizing world public opinion; and democratizing the world order. It suggests that a just implementation of the R2P doctrine is pending on the accomplishment of R4J: Responsibility for Justice

Keywords

Responsibility to Protect R2P , postcolonialism, orientalism, Middle East, geopolitics, realpolitik, global war on terror.

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