Academic work

R2P (Responsibility to protect): from humanitarian to environmental rhetorics ?

Master’s Thesis written under the supervision of Pr Carlo Santulli.

Abstract : The responsibility to protect (R2P) has often been promoted as an emerging legal norm, or an international custom. However, despite numerous attempts at legal conceptualization, R2P is not a new rule of law, but rather a political idea whose supporters make use of the humanitarian criterion for ideological purposes, in line with the humanitarian intervention and the duty to interfere.
On another note, the growing popularity of environmental issues in international relations implies a potential shift of R2P, from humanitarian to environmental rhetorics. The perspective of providing R2P with an environmental emphasis was already considered in the 2001 report of the ICISS, which supported that an interference on behalf of R2P could be justified by “overwhelming natural or environmental catastrophe, where the state concerned is either unwilling or unable to cope, or call for assistance, and significant loss of life is occurring or threatened”.
The shift of R2P towards environmental rhetorics could be achieved in a near future, when international environmental law will have developed into a binding and non-derogable corpus of law, or by integrating environmental rights into the corpus of human rights.

Russian Foreign Policy towards the Arctic : International Cooperation and National Interests in Synergy

Master’s Thesis written under the supervision of Pr Yves Surel.

Abstract : Based on assumptions as to its promising energy potential, the Arctic attracts the interest of coastal states, but also that of non-Arctic actors and observers – at both micro and macro levels.
In a context of significant disagreements between the Russian Federation and most Western states, Russia’s foreign policy towards the Arctic is particularly commented on. Some describe Russian strategy as aggressive and expansionary, while others consider it as purely defensive.
This research aims to demonstrate that international cooperation is Russia’s top priority in the Arctic, as long as it’s not detrimental to Russian economic development and political stability. This position is not specific to the Arctic Policy. Although driven by its national interests, the promotion of interstate cooperation and the effectiveness of International Law tend to be consistent stances that govern Russian Foreign Policy.

NB: “Western states” refers to states from North America and Europe, considered as democratic and industrialized while operating on a capitalist economic model.