The European Parliament and Libya 2011

The academic literature growingly acknowledges the empirical importance of the European Parliament (EP) as an international actor. This is in part due to the increasing international role of parliamentary bodies, and to the particular attention that the EP has given to international affairs over many decades now. The paper will review the (limited) theoretical and conceptual literature before it considers the EP´s reaction to the conflict in Libya in 2011. Such a study is important because the EP itself has emphasized the need to implement R2P/D2P (right and duty to protect) according to UN Security Council resolutions and general UN discourse on that matter over the past few years. The paper attempts to offer a different prespective on the existing literature on the EU´s (purported or real) "double standards" approach to international affairs.