The responsibility to protect (R2P) is often referred to as a new concept on the basis that it provides both states and the international community responsibilities, rather than merely rights, to protect populations from mass atrocities. As this article argues, this claim of novelty is overstated. And yet, R2P has comprised an important development in human protection over the past two decades: it has helped to generate a degree of consensus on how to prevent and address atrocity situations. If R2P is not as novel as is often suggested, why has it had such an impact on international discourse? After demonstrating R2P's overstated novelty, this article advances four key factors that help explain its meaningful international impact: the importance of previous and contiguous normative developments, the role played by norm entrepreneurs, the emphasis placed on prevention over intervention, and the concept's constructive mix of clarity and ambiguity. By doing so, it provides a stronger understanding of the norm.

中文翻译：

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推销保护的责任：规范的虚假新颖性但真正的影响

保护责任（R2P）通常被称为一个新概念，因为它为国家和国际社会提供了保护民众免受大规模暴行的权利，而不仅仅是权利。正如本文所论证的那样，这种新颖性的说法被夸大了。然而，在过去的二十年里，R2P 是人类保护领域的一项重要发展：它有助于就如何预防和解决暴行情况达成一定程度的共识。如果 R2P 不像人们通常认为的那样新颖，为什么它会对国际话语产生如此大的影响？在展示了 R2P 夸大其词的新颖性之后，本文提出了有助于解释其有意义的国际影响的四个关键因素：先前和连续规范发展的重要性，规范企业家所扮演的角色，强调预防胜于干预，以及概念的明确性和模糊性的建设性组合。通过这样做，它提供了对规范的更深入的理解。