The Responsibility to Protect and Counter-terrorism

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and counter-terrorism are two concepts that came of age in the new millennium. They have routinely been cast as contradictory, a dichotomy where actors must make a choice between prioritizing individual human rights or the security of the state. The evolution of these two concepts over the past 20 years, however, has shown that there are as many congruences between R2P and counter-terrorism as there are areas of conflict. This introduction briefly details the genesis of the R2P and counter-terrorism and highlights their shared basis in state sovereignty and protection of human rights. It then introduces the articles in this special issue, each of which looks at different areas of congruence or conflict between R2P and counter-terrorism.