Sharing Responsibility: The History and Future of Protection from Atrocities

Abstract

Known for his work researching topics related to international protection against atrocities, refugee protection and international responsibilities, including co-editing the journal ‘Global Responsibility to Protect’, Luke Glanville’s book ‘Sharing Responsibility: The History and Future of Protection from Atrocities’ examines the idea that states share responsibilities for protecting people beyond borders from atrocities. His analysis investigates the areas of international thought, practice, ethics, law and politics surrounding the duty to protect throughout the centuries. The book departs from the premise that the idea of international responsibilities to protect is hardly new, refuting a conventionally held claim in the mainstream literature on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). The author backs his argument by affirming that, when justifying or calling for action to protect people beyond borders, states have frequently used the language of responsibility to defend the interests of humanity. This take enriches the debate in the R2P literature and calls for more thorough analysis of the actual novelty and relevance of R2P in the twenty-first century, with the potential to rebalance the parameters of understanding this concept. Five questions seem to guide Glanville’s intellectual enterprise in this book: