The Responsibility to Protect in Darfur The Role of Mass Media

The long-simmering conflict in the Sudanese region of Darfur came to a boil in the spring of 2003 and became a focus of American mainstream media attention in September 2004. After the genocide in Rwanda, the international community developed a new way to deal with genocide-the "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine, which legitimized intervention in cases of egregious loss of human life. Despite this new doctrine, it took over five years of conflict in Darfur before the UN had peacekeepers on the ground.

Abdel Salam Sidahmed is associate professor of political science at the University of Windsor. He authored Politics Islam in Contemporary Sudan, and coauthored Sudan: The Contemporary Middle East Series and Humanitarian Crises and Intervention: Reassessing the Impact of Mass Media. Walter C. Soderlund is founding director of the University of Windsor's Centre for Social Justice and has worked extensively in studying the political role of mass media. He authored Mass Media and Foreign Policy: Post-Cold War Crises in the Caribbean. E. Donald Briggs is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Windsor and coauthor of Humanitarian Crises and Intervention: Reassessing the Impact of Mass Media.