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Security/Development in the Neoliberal Age: Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in the United Nation’s Security/Development Dispositif by Rina Kashyap M.A. (Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding), Eastern Mennonite University, 2007 M.Phil. (Diplomacy), Jawaharlal Nehru University, 1991 M.A. (International Studies), Jawaharlal Nehru University, 1989 B.A. (Hons., Political Science), University of Delhi, 1987 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Rina Kashyap 2016 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2016 Approval Name: Rina Kashyap Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title: Security/Development in the Neoliberal Age: Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in the United Nation’s Security/Development Dispositif Examining Committee: Chair: Anil Hira Professor James Busumtwi-Sam Senior Supervisor Associate Professor Laurent Dobuzinskis Supervisor Associate Professor Genevieve Fuji Johnson Supervisor Associate Professor Robert Anderson Internal Examiner Professor School of Communication Rob Walker External Examiner Professor Department of Political Science University of Victoria Date Defended/Approved: March 30, 2016 ii Ethics Statement iii Abstract The concept of ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P) as a response to situations of violent conflict and insecurity, was first formally articulated by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) in 2001, and subsequently endorsed by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly through the Summit Outcome Document (SOD) in 2005. Since then, various UN agencies appear to have accepted R2P by incorporating aspects of the concept into their institutional and operational mandates. Literature on the subject places R2P in the security realm where it is either heralded as a ‘paradigm shift’ towards progressive humanitarianism or denounced as a mask for imperial militarism. My research expands this conversation by locating R2P in the historical context of the liberal/neoliberal ‘security/development dispositif’ which has informed the UN system’s policies and programs since its inception. Using Foucauldian genealogy, I analyze how/where R2P ‘fits’ within the UN’s historically evolving security/development discourses and practices with two related objectives. First, ‘map’ empirically R2P’s institutional and operational manifestations in the UN to gauge the degrees/forms of its incorporation. Second, assess critically whether R2P’s institutional manifestations represent a significant change in the way the UN has approached the relationship between security and development since 1945. To achieve this second objective, I use Foucauldian concepts of ‘dispositif’, ‘governmentality’ and ‘biopolitics’ to ‘make sense’ of the map by unpacking the meanings (ideational and normative) of R2P. A genealogical analysis of the evidence supplemented by interviews, supports my hypotheses to reveal not only R2P’s uneven and contested incorporation across UN agencies, but also how the liberal/neoliberal security/development dispositif as a discursive structure of knowledge and power privileges particular interpretations and applications of R2P’s ‘three pillars’ (responsibility to react, prevent and rebuild). R2P, then, is a discursive rearticulation; a more limited kind of change than a discursive shift, with the emphasis on ‘protection’ and ‘responsibility’ signifying both continuity and change in the evolving liberal/neoliberal security/development dispositif. iv Keywords: Responsibility to protect; security/development; dispositif; governmentality; genealogical discourse analysis; United Nations v Dedication To my parents vi Acknowledgements A doctoral project is a privilege entitling you residence in the ivory tower to engage in a life of the mind. Lest this advantage turn into a luxury of incubating lazy whimsical ideas, the admonishing ethical gaze reveals this privilege as being made possible by the social burden shouldered by some of our fellow human beings. Randhir Singh’s exhortation—the task of social sciences is change and this involves figuring out what are the right questions and if need be changing the terms of debate—was always at the back of my mind in the entirety of this research quest. I am fortunate that my supervisor, James Busumtwi-Sam, ensured that this pursuit be punctuated by critical interrogations of the social, political, economic and cultural realities of the global and local. His mentorship involved patient erasures of my frequent self-doubts and allowing me the freedom to unboundedly explore. He encouraged me to stretch the boundaries of my research question. Thus un-caged, the question’s answer(s) could rightfully transgress the borders of the subfields in the International Relations/Political Science discipline(s). It is only in retrospect that I can appreciate the dexterity with which he guided me to lose myself without getting lost. Intellectual enrichment also came from my other committee members. In Laurent Dobuzinskis, I encountered the most genial ‘devil’s advocate’ pushing my intellectual horizons as he constantly questioned my premises. I am thankful to Genevieve Fuji- Johnson for provoking me to examine my field from other perspectives. The committee’s close scrutiny of my work ensured an engaged and exhilarating thesis defense. It was also so not in the least because of my external examiner Rob B.J. Walker’s insights and questions. He underlined the need to probe deeper and to build further on this study’s ‘right intuitions.’ His parting advice and challenge—to make my conclusion the premise of the next phase of this research—ensures that this subject will continue to unsettle me and be with me for some time to come. My internal examiner, Robert Anderson’s comments drew attention to the vexing question of the appropriate location of responsibility for atrocity crimes in the context of structural causation and the role of International Criminal Court in prosecuting individual leaders. vii I appreciate the encouragement received from the Department faculty—Tsuyoshi Kawasaki, Anil Hira, David Laycock, Marjorie Cohen, Aude-Claire Fourot, Douglas Ross, and Andy Heard. Conversations with Bruce Baum (University of British Columbia) and Howard Zehr (Eastern Mennonite University) helped me think through the research problem. Thank you to Shantala Singh, Sherry Lloyd, Bryn Dharmaratne, Lynn Kool, and Eliza So—their ‘administration’ ensured that problems of quotidian logistics of university graduate life did not side-track me. I was fortunate to get to interview individuals who are both scholars and practitioners—Thomas Weiss, Ramesh Thakur, Andrea Bartoli, Simon Adams, Lisa Schirch, and Jayne Docherty. I am grateful to Jean Marie Guehenno for hosting me as a Visiting Fellow at the Center for International Conflict Resolution, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. I recognize and deeply appreciate that some of these interviewees went out of the way to accommodate the interview sessions in what were clearly tightly packed schedules. Similarly the GCR2P and ICRtoP staff made time for the interviews even as they were engaged with the frenetic advocacy activity at the UN on the developing Syrian Crisis (2013). Kumar Jha Anuraj and Aseema Sinha introduced me to UN and World Bank officials respectively. The OSAPG officials’ commitment and belief in R2P was clearly evident, they were frank and forthcoming about their work and directed me to their colleagues in other UN Departments—including UNDP, UNDPA, UNDPKO, OCHA, and UNOCC—engaged in the R2P mandate. I applaud their commitment. I thank all my interviewees for sharing their views on R2P with remarkable candour. The grants and scholarships from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, (Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship; Michael Smith Foreign Travel Study Supplement) and Simon Fraser University were crucial in facilitating my field trips and in helping me devote some exclusive time to research. viii Accompanying me on this doctoral journey was a host of other teachers, colleagues, friends and family. There are friends—Anjali Bhatia (persuasive out of box observations), Anna Barrera, Aseema Sinha, Ravindra Karnena, Asma Hashmi, and Ivan Jankovich—who were stimulating interlocutors on the subject. Julie MacArthur, the friend in the guise of a wise ‘senior’ educated me on the doctoral rites of passage. Friends—Lisa O’Hara, Lynne Cruz, Margaret Johnson Saloni Prabhakar, and Anish Sharma—whose hearths and homes were my comfort zones in New York, New Westminster, Burnaby and Washington DC respectively. Friends—Anja Novak, Nancy Teeple, and Daniel D. Guedes de Andrade—forced me to take trekking breaks, lunch breaks and talking breaks from the computer screen. I have relished the energy and liveliness that Vincent Hopkins, Michael Oram, and Jennifer Cooper brought to the Grad Lab—our office away from office. Then there are friends whose spirited cheers made the finishing line appear within a not so difficult reach—Jayshree Yamunan, Aandal, Smita Sahgal, Divya Mishra (along with Renu Behl—my sabbatical bond guarantors), Priyaleen Singh, Serder Kaya, Nilofar Sakhi, Fadi El Hajjar, Samina Shahid, my 7th floor Research Commons companions—Denis Dogah and Bouchra Kachoub—, Scott Macleod, Shweta Singh, Paranjoy Bordoloi, Ruchi Bhargava, Bunny Chawla, Atul Chaturvedi, and Nevart Khatchadourian (sternly reassuring me that I can do it merely because I am a woman).