What prospects for common humanity in a divided world? The scope for RtoP in a transitional international order

As a near-universal political commitment to prevent or address atrocities the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) supports the idea of common humanity, even though the operationalization of the principle is uneven and controversial. However, the RtoP agenda has become problematized by the political frictions of the shifting international order. This is reflected in normative contestation between liberal states and those – including rising or resurgent powers – which promote a more conservative, pluralist vision of international society and which increasingly resist Western control of the political agenda. The transitional international order has also generated geopolitical tensions which – even if unconnected to humanitarian norms – obstruct the RtoP agenda. This article explores these themes and considers if RtoP, as an expression of common humanity, can achieve progress in this context.