Rising powers and the responsibility to protect : Will the norm suvirve in the age of BRICS?

What is the view of the BRICS countries regarding the international community's Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) against civilian atrocities? This article revisits the debate on international humanitarian action in Libya and Syria in 2011–2012; a time with BRICS states as members of the United Nation Security Council. While BRICS countries from the outset had different views on RtoP, the experiences of the Libyan intervention led to a unanimous reluctance to initiate any humanitarian action in Syria. We find, however, that all BRICS except Russia in general are positive to the RtoP concept and are willing to participate in further developments to specify how and when it applies. On the basis of our analysis, we expect that RtoP will continue to be an important feature of international relations but that it primarily will be used against non-state actors and that the behaviour of the interveners may be subjected to UNSC scrutiny