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INTRODUCTION xix A Syrian mother with her two children in a tent city close to the Bab al-Salam border crossing near Aleppo, Syria, February 11, 2016. Russian airstrikes forced some 40,000 people to flee their homes in Aleppo. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) have left Syria, and the burden for their humanitarian care in regional countries is taking a toll. Responsibility to Protect The ethics of war can be both argued and justified based upon different viewpoints and reasons for war and conflict, depending on what side a country finds itself in a particular matter. It would be outside the scope of this work to provide a com- prehensive overview on the topic of ethics and how it pertains to war and conflict around the world. While there are vast differences in terms of culture and customs and how ethical decision-making may be viewed, international institutions do serve an important purpose in defining what acts are considered ethical and those that are considered unethical. In most cases, determining the ethical behavior of a nation-state is predicated on some atrocity that has resulted in large-scale human suffering. The powerful few in virtually all cultures and situations make decisions that affect the lives of the many who possess less power. While nation-states self- ishly protect their sovereign privileges to govern, in some cases the international community may view certain atrocities too hard to ignore. For this reason, the chapter pertaining to the ethics of war will focus on a discussion regarding the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). While R2P may be a noble policy espoused by