Evaluating the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine: A Process-Tracing and Content Analysis of Interventions in Eastern Congo

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine’s invocation in recent interventions in the Conflict in the Eastern Congo is paired with increasing skepticism of R2P’s relevance as an approach to humanitarian intervention. Existing research critiques the R2P doctrine but offers alternatives that work within its existing framework. It also fails to examine the doctrine’s effectiveness in practicepotentially ignoring how it is operationalized. Using United Nations (UN) Security Council resolutions renewing MONUSCO’s mandate from 2020 to 2025 and Reports of the Secretary-General on MONUSCO and the Peace, Security, and Cooperation (PSC) Framework from 2025, I conducted process tracing and content analysis, respectively, to evaluate how the R2P doctrine was invoked and operationalized in the Eastern Congo. Moving beyond critiques of the R2P doctrine, the analysis revealed a gap between invocation of R2P and its operationalization. The findings indicate that the R2P doctrine fails in practice with countries not upholding their financial obligations and peacekeeping efforts being met with worsening human rights conditions.

Author

• Schwartz, Owen

Contributor

• achelor's of Arts Faculty Advisor: Dr. Megan V Davis, MPH, PhD

Keyword

• United Nations Security Council
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Process Tracing
• Humanitarian Intervention
• Responsibility to Protect Doctrine
• Content Analysis
• Conflict in Eastern Congo

Date created

• 2026

Type of Work

• Research Paper

License

• Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States

Rights statement

• In Copyright

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/work/jh343t62x