School of Social & Political Sciences

Dr Richard Illingworth

  • Lecturer in International Relations (Urban Studies & Social Policy)

Biography

I joined the University of Glasgow in September 2023 as Lecturer in International Relations. My research centres on the study of mass atrocity prevention (including genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing), often examined through the lens of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’.

My work has explored reforms aimed at strengthening global atrocity prevention efforts, including to the R2P framework itself, in addition to wider structural reforms at the international level. Such reforms adopt a cosmopolitan approach, focused on the provision of duties, justice, and human protection. I am the author of Strengthening the Responsibility to Protect: A Transitional Cosmopolitan Approach (2024).

In July 2026 I commenced an Economic and Social Research Council funded project (£350,000) titled ‘Between Commitment and Complicity: Cosmopolitan Duties, Global Harm, and the International Dynamics of Atrocity Prevention’. Empirically centred on Gaza and theoretically situated in work on harm and complicity, the project explores the role that third-party state actors play in either contributing to or alleviating the causal ecology of mass atrocity.

Research interests

  • The Responsibility to Protect
  • Genocide and mass atrocity prevention
  • Humanitarian intervention
  • Cosmopolitan theory
  • Global harm
  • The United Nations

Research groups

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019
Number of items: 11.

2026

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2026) Delusions of saviour? Reform and relevance at 20 years of the Responsibility to Protect. Global Responsibility to Protect, (doi: 10.1163/1875984x-20262013) (Early Online Publication)

2025

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2025) Gaza and the failure of atrocity prevention: placing the responsibility to protect on stronger cosmopolitan foundations. Cooperation and Conflict, (doi: 10.1177/00108367251321440) (Early Online Publication)

Gallagher, Adrian, Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455, Raffle, Euan and Willis, Ben (2025) The permanency of mass atrocities: the fallacy of ‘never again’. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 27(1), pp. 310-330. (doi: 10.1177/13691481241241332)

2024

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2024) Not the ‘Fairest Norm of Them All’ but still needed: on Hobson and criticism of the responsibility to protect. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 18(2), pp. 181-190. (doi: 10.1080/17502977.2024.2304457)

2023

Gallagher, Adrian, Lawrinson, Blake, McKay, Gillian and Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2023) The Responsibility to Protect: a bibliography. Global Responsibility to Protect, 16(1), pp. 3-123. (doi: 10.1163/1875984x-20230012)

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2023) Strengthening the Responsibility to Protect: A Transitional Cosmopolitan Approach. Series: Global politics and the responsibility to protect. Routledge. (doi: 10.4324/9781003394105)

2022

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2022) Constructing the Responsibility to Protect, edited by Charles T. Hunt and Phil Orchard. Routledge, 2020. E-International Relations, [Book Review]

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2022) An R2P Commission: a proposal for holding states accountable to their responsibility to protect. Global Studies Quarterly, 2(1), ksac012. (doi: 10.1093/isagsq/ksac012)

2021

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2021) The Responsibility to Protect and the Failures of the United Nations Security Council by Patrick M. Butchard. Global Responsibility to Protect, 13(1), pp. 100-102. (doi: 10.1163/1875-984X-13010008)[Book Review]

2020

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2020) Responsible veto restraint: a transitional cosmopolitan reform measure for the responsibility to protect. Global Responsibility to Protect, 12(4), pp. 385-414. (doi: 10.1163/1875-984X-01204008)

2019

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2019) The Responsibility to Protect and a Cosmopolitan Approach to Human Protection by Samuel J. Wyatt. International Affairs, 95(2), pp. 475-476. (doi: 10.1093/ia/iiy274)[Book Review]

This list was generated on Sun Sep 20 02:11:03 2026 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Reviews
Number of items: 11.

Articles

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2026) Delusions of saviour? Reform and relevance at 20 years of the Responsibility to Protect. Global Responsibility to Protect, (doi: 10.1163/1875984x-20262013) (Early Online Publication)

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2025) Gaza and the failure of atrocity prevention: placing the responsibility to protect on stronger cosmopolitan foundations. Cooperation and Conflict, (doi: 10.1177/00108367251321440) (Early Online Publication)

Gallagher, Adrian, Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455, Raffle, Euan and Willis, Ben (2025) The permanency of mass atrocities: the fallacy of ‘never again’. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 27(1), pp. 310-330. (doi: 10.1177/13691481241241332)

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2024) Not the ‘Fairest Norm of Them All’ but still needed: on Hobson and criticism of the responsibility to protect. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 18(2), pp. 181-190. (doi: 10.1080/17502977.2024.2304457)

Gallagher, Adrian, Lawrinson, Blake, McKay, Gillian and Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2023) The Responsibility to Protect: a bibliography. Global Responsibility to Protect, 16(1), pp. 3-123. (doi: 10.1163/1875984x-20230012)

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2022) An R2P Commission: a proposal for holding states accountable to their responsibility to protect. Global Studies Quarterly, 2(1), ksac012. (doi: 10.1093/isagsq/ksac012)

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2020) Responsible veto restraint: a transitional cosmopolitan reform measure for the responsibility to protect. Global Responsibility to Protect, 12(4), pp. 385-414. (doi: 10.1163/1875-984X-01204008)

Books

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2023) Strengthening the Responsibility to Protect: A Transitional Cosmopolitan Approach. Series: Global politics and the responsibility to protect. Routledge. (doi: 10.4324/9781003394105)

Book Reviews

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2022) Constructing the Responsibility to Protect, edited by Charles T. Hunt and Phil Orchard. Routledge, 2020. E-International Relations, [Book Review]

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2021) The Responsibility to Protect and the Failures of the United Nations Security Council by Patrick M. Butchard. Global Responsibility to Protect, 13(1), pp. 100-102. (doi: 10.1163/1875-984X-13010008)[Book Review]

Illingworth, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2162-0455 (2019) The Responsibility to Protect and a Cosmopolitan Approach to Human Protection by Samuel J. Wyatt. International Affairs, 95(2), pp. 475-476. (doi: 10.1093/ia/iiy274)[Book Review]

This list was generated on Sun Sep 20 02:11:03 2026 BST.

Prior publications

Book Section

Richard Illingworth (2023) A Transitional Cosmopolitan Approach to R2P Reform Crossref. (doi: 10.4324/9781003394105-4)

Richard Illingworth (2023) Ending UN Security Council Paralysis Crossref. (doi: 10.4324/9781003394105-5)

Richard Illingworth (2023) Holding States to Account Crossref. (doi: 10.4324/9781003394105-7)

Richard Illingworth (2023) Overcoming the Authority Dilemma Crossref. (doi: 10.4324/9781003394105-6)

Richard Illingworth (2023) What Cosmopolitanism Demands of the R2P Crossref. (doi: 10.4324/9781003394105-2)

Teaching

I believe that high-quality teaching is about inspiring students of all backgrounds to fulfil their potential. As a teacher of politics and international studies, I encourage students to become critically engaged, independent thinkers, with the knowledge to understand and help address some of the key issues that shape our world. My professional recognition in student education as Fellow of the Higher Education Academy reflects my commitment to pedagogically engaged, passionate, and committed teaching.

In additional to undergraduate and postgraduate dissertation supervision, I teach on modules such as:

  • Humanitarian Intervention: Civilians or Sovereignty?
  • Introduction to International Relations
  • International Security and Strategic Studies
  • War and International Security

Professional activities & recognition

Professional & learned societies

  • 2023 - ongoing: Fellow, Advance HE (HE Academy)
  • 2019 - ongoing: , British International Studies Association