Academics are often late in recognizing the obvious. In international politics, this is the case because a lot of research still focuses on the behavior of states and overlooks nonstate actors, which are increasing in number, economic clout, and spheres of activity. It is also true that certain methodological assumptions and practices constrain what is studied and what is not. When it comes to human rights research in political science, much of it still focuses on states and human rights violations, thereby ignoring a whole host of global actors and important activities. What is necessary and what this substantive edited volume by Kurt Mills and David Karp does is to provide an interdisciplinary and multifaceted look at how different state and non-state actors understand and act on human rights responsibilities. Fourteen chapters written by a mixture of academics and practitioners prevent a substantive review of any single chapter, but the volume’s careful organization and meaty substance make it an important and coherent read. The central point of Human Rights Protection in Global Politics is clear: To understand the range and depth of human rights activities one must look beyond states and at more than just violations.

Alternating between normative theory, conceptual issues, and empirical studies, the volume transcends disciplinary, thematic, and geographic boundaries. Part I provides a solid framework to consider the idea and implementation of human rights responsibility. It is evident in the Introduction and throughout that the authors want to highlight the work of nonstate actors; this largely means attention to businesses but even more so to the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (rather than the behavior of nonstate actors themselves). The chapter by Glenn Mitoma and Kerry Bystrom is particularly good at examining the different understandings of humanitarian responsibility. The focus on responsibility and virtue and power is both timely and welcomed, as is the discussion of the differences between humanitarian responsibility and human rights.

From different vantage points, the chapters in Part II examine the various responsibilities of states. But rather than looking at states’ behavior per se, Mátyás Bódig’s chapter explores the work of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), arguing that it has been “a trailblazer” in its development of a complex framework for states’ human rights obligations (p. 50). The chapter by Daniel J. Whelen retains this focus on economic, social, and cultural rights, explaining why economic and social rights are equal to civil and political rights. It also provides a more historical look at how the United States (under President Franklin Roosevelt) tried to create a facilitating environment to secure economic and social well-being. The connection to the next chapter is Mark Gibney’s interest in understanding why individual accountability, rather than state responsibility, is more common when it comes to addressing human rights violations. Using empirical evidence from the Balkans and the European Court of Human Rights, Gibney argues persuasively that state responsibility and individual accountability can and should work together to prevent human rights violations.

Part III turns to the responsibilities and the role of nonstate actors, with three of the five chapters focusing specifically on the practices of business. In all three, the UN’s Guiding Principles play some role, representing for some (like the authors of Chapter 6) “a governance innovation,” which, unfortunately, has a long way to go before businesses actually recognize and act on them (p. 129). Others, like Karp, see the benefits and the shortcomings of the Guiding Principles but believe that they usefully restate “the traditional way of understanding the ideas of protect and respect in international human rights practice” and, thus, have something to offer our conceptualization of the Responsibility to Protect (p. 154). Flor González Correa clearly sees the Guiding Principles differently, as limiting rather than expanding the responsibilities of transnational corporations, arguing that “a moral institutional approach” better captures how and when businesses shape and support harmful institutions (p. 176). Without a doubt, attention needs to be paid to the practices of transnational corporations, but I found the two chapters on China and Myanmar more unique and intriguing, if somewhat out of place in this volume.

Without using familiar language about professional associations, epistemic communities, or transnational advocacy networks (TANs), the chapter by Nicola Macbean and Elisa Nesossi explores whether law firms and lawyers operating in China are bound by the same human rights obligations, irrespective of the context in which they are operating, and if so, what are the implications? While some of the chapters were a bit long, this chapter was too short. In China but in many other autocratic countries, not only will this kind of research be important for improving human rights but it also goes a long way toward evaluating the strength and role of nonstate actors. While informative, the chapter by Maaike Matelski that focuses on public and private actors involved in education in Myanmar seems a bit out of place with the rest of the volume, particularly because it is followed by an entire section on mass atrocities and the Responsibility to Protect.

For me, the most coherent and empirically relevant section is Part IV, which focuses narrowly on the “most discussed responsibility” in international politics—the responsibility to protect, or R2P (p. 224). The chapters by Mills, Melissa Labonte, Michael Galchinsky, and Tim Dunne and Katharine Gelber might be appealing to others as well because they are more empirical, covering recent events, and they are less encumbered by academic jargon. Thus, in addition to differentiating “responsibility conundrums,” Mills explores modalities of protection and the various actors involved. Labonte’s chapter then provides a comprehensive exploration of the relationship between R2P and civilian protection and of the “core challenges” involved in trying to use peaceful, diplomatic, and humanitarian means to protect populations from mass atrocity crimes. For Labonte, the Security Council’s main approaches to R2P is important, but so too is how the Security Council’s behavior affects nonstate actors, specifically humanitarian organizations. Narrowing on the Obama administration, the last two chapters remind us that despite the use of R2P in Libya and attempts to use it in Syria, most states are not yet ready to act on their commitment to preventing atrocities. But if Dunne and Gelber are correct (Chapter 14), it is not just actions that are important for explaining when R2P is used successfully. What is also obvious and important is what states say and how consistent they are in promoting the norm of protecting civilians.

For some, Human Rights Protection in Global Politics may be dry and legalistic. However, its breadth and contributions to human rights protections are clear and long overdue.