Western Intervention in the Middle East and North Africa

Western Intervention in the Middle East and North Africa: The ‘Responsibility to Protect’ in Libya, Syria and Beyond offers a groundbreaking investigation into one of the most contested questions in international relations: why states intervene to stop mass atrocities in some contexts but not in others.

Focusing on the United States and the United Kingdom, this book examines two pivotal cases – Libya (2011) and Syria (2011–2013) – to reveal how decisions under the third pillar of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) are shaped less by universal norms than by nationally constructed identities and interests. Through detailed case studies, qualitative interviews, and extensive engagement with social constructivist theory, the book demonstrates how the U.S. and U.K. positioned themselves as ‘intervener’ in Libya but as ‘non-intervener’ in Syria, and how the Libya experience itself influenced subsequent restraint in Syria. By tracing the complex interaction of social, political, and institutional factors, it challenges the assumption that R2P operates as a purely international agenda and instead uncovers the national-level dynamics that determine whether and how military interventions occur.

Essential reading for scholars, policy makers, and practitioners in international relations, human rights, and Middle East and North African studies, this book provides critical insights into the politics of atrocity prevention and highlights the nuanced conditions required for future third pillar responses.

Josephine S. Jackson is an academic-practitioner, working in both defense policy and academia. She was recently an associate lecturer in Foundation History and International Relations at the University of St Andrews in St Andrews, Scotland. She continues to be involved with the Centre for Global Law and Governance and the Institute for Middle East, Central Asia, and Caucasus Studies, both at the University of St Andrews. Her research areas include U.S. and U.K. foreign policy and national security; the Middle East and North Africa regions; international criminal law (including genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression); Responsibility to Protect (R2P); international humanitarian law; and ethical governance of artificial intelligence and Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS). She is a Truman National Security Fellow and a mentor for the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs’ Carnegie Ethics Fellows.