On Feb 2., Dr. Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus of Social Science at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, explained the international doctrine of “responsibility to protect” using the Syrian civil war as a case study. Walzer gave the Government Department’s 2016 Sullivan Lecture in Copley Formal Lounge.
The Sullivan Lecture is an annual lecture series discussing ethics in government and law that began in 1997, and in past years has included speakers like Kevin Spacey, Ron Klain (CAS ‘63), and Dr. Eric Beerbohm. In his lecture entitled “What is the Responsibility to Protect?” Walzer, a professor, author, and co-editor of the magazine Dissent, explored the international doctrine mandating states’ responsibility to intervene in cases of genocide or mass atrocity.
Walzer began by reading aloud from his Dissent blog posts written in 2012 and 2013 regarding Syria before reflecting more broadly on how and when military intervention against governments committing atrocities is appropriate. “What should we do when we don’t know what to do?” asked Walzer.
This question, according to Walzer, is complicated by the legal status of responsibility to protect, or ‘R2P’. Although the United Nations General Assembly has voted on and accepted the doctrine of a responsibility to intervene in cases of genocide or mass atrocity as international law, only the Security Council can authorize the use of force. “Protecting the people who need protection, the victims of mass murder and other atrocities, is usually illegal,” said Walzer.
After outlining when protection is required and who is responsible for providing that protection, Walzer turned to just war theory to outline the limits on responsibility to protect. Walzer argued a high probability of success and choosing a winning faction capable of maintaining stability are both necessary for intervention. “The other just war criterion for responsibility to protect is proportionality: a realistic probability that the human cost of the intervention won’t exceed the evils against which it is directed,” said Walzer.
Walzer has given previous lectures at Georgetown, most recently in March 2013 when he spoke at a Berkeley Center event about drone warfare. His books on political theory and moral philosophy appear frequently in the syllabi of Georgetown classes. In his introduction, Professor Joshua Cherniss of the Government Department said that he assigns Walzer’s books with the same frequency as Niccolo Machiavelli and John Locke. Many students in the audience knew him from required reading lists, including one audience member who had read his works at West Point.
Katsuya Watanabe (‘18), a Japanese exchange student studying political philosophy, asked Walzer to sign his book after the talk. “I was impressed. He’s passionate, “ said Watanabe. Two other students also requested that Walzer sign their books.
Michael Ippolito (COL ‘17) first read Walzer’s Just and Unjust Wars in Just War Theory, a philosophy class that Ippolito says is taken by government, theology, and philosophy majors alike. “I honestly just came because Walzer’s the best in the business at what he does and I thought this might be interesting,” said Ippolito. “He didn’t disappoint.”
“He’s a fantastic theorist,” said Elizabeth Oh (SFS ‘16), who has also taken Just War Theory.
The doctrine of responsibility to protect, according to Walzer, means protecting a country’s most vulnerable citizens, and ensuring that peace and safety come first even before democracy. At times this calls for meaningful military intervention. “Sometimes force is not only useful, but morally necessary,” said Walzer.
