Alex Bellamy is the author of a book on the Responsibility to Protect. He's in conversation here with John Tessitore, editor of Ethics and International Affairs. Emphasizing that prevention is the core to R2P, Bellamy says:
I'm... fairly skeptical... about the likelihood of criteria or principles shaping the way the Security Council takes decisions. I think once a matter gets to the Council, Council politics are going to take over, and ultimately skilled diplomats will use principles and criteria to justify whatever position they seem to take.
This is an issue I've also registered (see section 4 of this post): concerning the crucial dependence of what should be juridical criteria, in the application of international humanitarian law, on processes and interests that are overtly political.