Doctrine of Responsibility to Protect: Explaining the Approach of Great Powers to Crises in Libya and Yemen

Libyan crisis in 2011 posed many questions regarding the kind and method of reaction made by international community against current international humanitarian crises, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, due to the rapid and decisive reaction of the Security Council in the framework of the doctrine of responsibility to protect and NATO’s military intervention in this country. The opposing goals and interests of great powers in each of these crises and their efforts to ensure their national security and interests and to maximize their relative power and more importantly, the deterrent role of their old rivals in the target country or countries, have led to selective approaches to humanitarian crises including those of Libya and Yemen. In this article, Authors try to study the doctrine of responsibility to protect and meanwhile, to explain the approach taken by great powers, especially the permanent members of the Security Council, to Lybian and Yemeni crisies.