Mathieu, Shannon Marie (2020) Gender and the responsibility to protect: a study of protection narratives in international intervention. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the impact of protection language and its gendered content on UN intervention policies and practice within the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) framework. R2P was first proposed in 2001 and adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2005, with the aim of ensuring timely and effective international intervention to prevent or halt mass atrocity crimes. While the existing literature on R2P has engaged extensively with its reliance on concepts of responsibility and sovereignty, less attention has been paid to the concept of protection as it operates within R2P. This thesis undertakes a qualitative analysis of protection discourses in R2P-related policy documents and statements between 1999 and 2018, supplemented by semi-structured qualitative interviews with experts and practitioners. In doing so, it contributes to the literature on gender and R2P by examining how gender operates within efforts to mobilize and legitimize specific interventions. The thesis argues that reliance on gendered protection language undermines the potential of R2P to form a new approach to international intervention. Instead, gendered power disparities between masculinized international ‘protectors’ and feminized local civilians are reproduced, the assumed expertise of international actors is reinforced, and the knowledge and perspectives of local people are excluded. By demonstrating how protection language limits the ability of interveners to effectively meet the security needs of those intended to benefit from interventions, the thesis concludes that protection-based intervention narratives address not the security vulnerabilities of local civilians, but rather the political vulnerabilities of the international actors whose legitimacy depends on their status as protectors. Attention to gender and a commitment to gender equality are necessary to fully understand and address this limitation within R2P.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) J Political Science > JZ International relations K Law [Moys] > KC International Law
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Responsibility to protect (International law), Intervention (International law), Feminism -- International cooperation, Identity politics
Official Date:	January 2020
Dates:	Date Event January 2020 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Politics and International Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Squire, Vicki, 1974- ; Welland, Julia
Sponsors:	University of Warwick. Chancellor’s International Scholarship
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	vi, 212 leaves
Language:	eng

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