The Responsibility Not To Veto : A Genealogy

The responsibility not to veto is the idea that the Permanent Five
at the UN Security Council should voluntarily refrain from using
their veto in the event of atrocities. There are currently three veto restraining initiatives, one of them from a P5 member, France. Despite
its importance in diplomatic and UN circles, this debate has attracted
little academic attention. This is partly because of the difficulty to
access primary sources such as the details of the French proposal that
circulated among the P5. Empirically focused and using diplomatic
archives and experience, this article intends to fill such a gap. It
provides the most detailed picture of the RN2V genealogy to date while
offering a behind-the-scenes perspective on how the idea emerged
and developed inside the French administration. It then unpacks the
French strategy, its motivations and diplomatic efforts toward the P5,
Group of 4, other states, and nongovernmental organizations, and
eventually makes four recommendations for the initiative to have a
chance of progressing among the Permanent Three.