The Politics of Humanity

the roots and the reach of the humanitarian impulse spread further than any single
kind of political institution, there is an important place in humanitarian politics for a
democratic impulse, constantly alert to the excesses of power and totalising
understandings of humanity that have often characterised the exercise of
humanitarian action. I then illustrated the applicability of my approach to one of the
central humanitarian problems of our time, anthropogenic climate change,
demonstrating that my description of the “politics of humanity” may not take us
closer to solving such a complex problem, but that it provides the potential to
understand the scope of the challenge it presents. In addressing it, it seems clear
that no-one can afford the luxury of turning away from an issue that affects
humanity in such a fundamental way. Indeed, perhaps the greatest irony of
humanitarianism is that it usually aspires to change others, yet it is at its best when
it helps us to change ourselves. We know much about the horrors of which we are
capable. But we do not yet know what we can become.