Abstract
This thesis brings the concept of humanitarianism sharply into focus within the
discourse of international political theory. Existing literature examines
humanitarianism obliquely, via debates on military humanitarian intervention or
human rights, resulting in an impoverished account of a vital idea. Meanwhile, a
vibrant discussion among professional humanitarians has recently questioned the
nature of their endeavour, along lines that clearly fit the remit of international
political theory. Bringing together these two discussions in the course of its critical
analysis, the thesis argues that humanitarianism should be conceptualised as a
political context in which we articulate, negotiate and defend our understandings of
common humanity. Central to this politics are the ways in which we react to and
conceptualise human suffering, through humanitarian crises that are often "crises
of humanity". In sparking concern and mobilising responses to suffering, the
affective underpinnings of the humanitarian impulse create a complex and shifting
backdrop to extensions of solidarity and humanitarian action. At the heart of this
action is the idea of rescue, a crucial "presumptive occasion" of our moral life. But
an important part of humanitarian action consists in the efforts to institutionalise
the humanitarian impulse. In this sense human rights and projects of global justice
represent important crystallisations of humanitarian concern, yet neither can fully
capture the more contingent workings of the humanitarian impulse. What emerges
is an understanding of humanitarianism as a broad discussion, central to the
identity of contemporary liberal international political theory, but with a scope best
gleaned not from cosmopolitan accounts, but from a more fluid internationalist
tradition of thought. The thesis concludes that the importance of this theoretical
approach will be borne out by the complex and far-reaching practical challenges
that humanitarianism is set to confront over coming decades, not least the "crisis of
humanity" threatened by climate change.