Contesting the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ in Southeast Asia: Rejection or Normative Resistance?

Abstract This article explores the engagement of Southeast Asian states with Responsibility to Protect principle (R2P) in relation Rohingya Myanmar and ‘war on drugs’ Philippines. It finds a form contestation based upon subsidiary principles local interests which have offered normative resistance international scrutiny order justify their limited response atrocities. Elite stakeholders emphasised that asean already has frameworks address abuses – reflect historical experience, social context, political culture region support R2P. While existing debates about R2P Asia tend be oriented around opposing poles incremental adaptation adoption versus outright rejection, our conclusion is distinct: consciously contested grounds must understood context region.