Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

INTERNATIONAL: "To protect sovereignty, or to protect lives? The new notion of global responsibility to alleviate suffering has struggled to win acceptance—and Myanmar will not be the place where it comes of age," The Economist, 17 May 2008, p. 73.

R2P refers to "responsibility to protect," or the notion that advanced states have the right to intervene in Gap countries when state failure or obstinacy costs lives—like Burma/Myanmar with the cyclone.

For now, a bit of an empty slogan, as the Economist argues, but as globalization's hyper-connectivity and hyper-interdependency grows, this sort of thing is inevitable—like state intervention in the broken home. The closer we grow together in all these nets, the less willing people are to let bad things go on just a few doors down.