The Politics of Humanity

I Locating Humanitarianism: Plausible Protagonists

The question of what sphere of activity, and which group of actors, should ground
an empirically-informed theoretical study of humanitarianism is by no means a
straightforward one. There are many plausible locations of humanitarianism in
contemporary international politics. This section will illustrate and briefly discuss
the possibilities, before arguing for a consistent starting point in professional
humanitarianism that allows us to build linkages to other understandings and
institutionalisations of humanitarianism, and set these relationships in the context
of contemporary debates in international political theory.
When it first entered into common usage, “humanitarian” was frequently
used in a derogatory sense, synonymous with the equally contemptuous “humanity-
monger” or “humanity-man”, sentimental busybodies all. Today, in common
parlance, humanitarian has much more positive connotations. What it connotes is
not always so clear, though, beyond a broad commitment to human welfare. David
P. Forsythe, a veteran observer of international humanitarianism, recently defined it
simply as “the transnational concern to help persons in exceptional distress”.^6 Here
dictionary definitions advance us little. For example the Oxford English Dictionary
defines it as follows:

Concern for human welfare as a primary or pre-eminent moral good; action,

or the disposition to act, on the basis of this concern rather than for

pragmatic or strategic reasons. Chiefly depreciative in early use, with the

implication of excessive sentimentality towards criminals and the poor.^7

6
David P. Forsythe, "Contemporary Humanitarianism: The Global and the Local", in
Humanitarianism and Suffering: The Mobilization of Empathy , ed. Richard Ashby Wilson
and Richard D. Brown (Cambridge: Cambridge Universi 7 ty Press, 2009), 59.
Oxford English Dictionary, "Humanitarianism", Oxford English Dictionary Online (Draft
Revision March 2010). Available at http://dictionary.oed.com; accessed on 15 July 2010.
Italics in original.