Author profile: Ramesh Thakur

Ramesh Thakur, a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, is emeritus professor at the Australian National University. His most recent book is The United Nations, Peace and Security: From Collective Security to the Responsibility to Protect, 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2017).

No Longer Fit for Purpose: Syria and the International Normative Architecture

Ramesh Thakur • Apr 24 2018 • Articles

The British-French-American attacks on Syria show the impotence of the UN in checking war crimes by Syria and preventing the illegal use of force by major powers.

Israel’s Serial Gaza Offensives Are Offensive

Ramesh Thakur • Jul 24 2014 • Articles

Does the R2P apply in Gaza? This is a silly question – of course it does. R2P is a universal principle, not a light switch to be turned on and off at whim or convenience.

Syria and the Responsibility to Protect

Ramesh Thakur • Feb 4 2014 • Articles

Syria has thrown up challenges, but not thrown out the R2P. There is an interest in clarifying the norm to prevent misuse but no demand to rescind the norm.

Syrians Are Paying the Price of NATO Excesses in Libya

Ramesh Thakur • Mar 2 2012 • Articles

The China–Russia veto does not prove the irrelevance of the UN Security Council. Rather, it proves that the politics of the Security Council must be got right before an R2P military intervention; and the political equilibrium should be maintained during the operation.

R2P, Libya and International Politics as the Struggle for Competing Normative Architectures

Ramesh Thakur • Sep 7 2011 • Articles

The UN was neither designed nor expected to be a pacifist organisation. Its origins lie in the anti-Nazi wartime military alliance amongst Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union. The all-powerful UN Security Council is the world’s duly, and only, sworn in sheriff for enforcing international law and order.

Libya: The First Stand or the Last Post for the Responsibility to Protect?

Ramesh Thakur • Mar 13 2011 • Articles

When security forces, meant to protect people, are instead let loose in a killing spree, the state itself becomes the prime perpetrator of atrocities. With precisely such an unfolding scenario, Libya today is the place and time to redeem or renege on R2P’s solemn pledge.

Burma and the responsibility to protect: first, do more good than harm

Ramesh Thakur • Jun 20 2008 • Articles

Paranoid and mistrustful of the outside world, Burma’s generals were criminally tardy in permitting emergency humanitarian supplies and personnel to come into the country after a devastating cyclone in early May. Yet attempts to invoke R2P were ill advised.

Please Consider Donating

Before you download your free e-book, please consider donating to support open access publishing.

E-IR is an independent non-profit publisher run by an all volunteer team. Your donations allow us to invest in new open access titles and pay our bandwidth bills to ensure we keep our existing titles free to view. Any amount, in any currency, is appreciated. Many thanks!

Donations are voluntary and not required to download the e-book - your link to download is below.

Subscribe

Get our weekly email