| Summary/Abstract |
This article explores the responsibility to protect (R2P) as a contested norm through a detailed study of the position of one major power—Russia—and brief consideration of those of the remaining BRICS. Although Russia's position on R2P has been toward the extreme end of the oppositional spectrum, Russia's concerns about the implementation of R2P are reflected in statements advanced by other BRICS members. Non-Western perspectives on the R2P are explored through the evolution of Russian foreign policy responses to R2P over three periods: from NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia to the UN Summit in 2005; from 2005 to 2011, when Moscow misapplied the R2P norm in the Russo-Georgian war; and the debates in 2011–2013 over R2P in the Libyan and Syrian cases. International pressure has been sufficiently strong to induce formal adherence to the norm of protecting vulnerable populations, though sovereignty issues and concerns about the implementation of R2P make internalization of the norm among non-Western states problematic in the near future.
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