The Politics of Humanity

detailed engagement with many particular aspects of the humanitarian endeavour
necessitates the use of one or more of these perspectives. The contention of this
thesis is that a particularly productive way to engage with this question is to treat it
as a problem in international political theory, because more than any other
perspective, it reveals the fundamental interdependence between the ethical and
the political dimensions of humanitarianism. Examining humanitarianism and
international political theory together enables us to explore the vital problems
raised by this essential concept for our international moral lives, while shining a
light on some of the less-examined corners of a rich body of work. By doing so,
concepts such as solidarity and humanity, key to the moral life, are enriched.
Nicholas Rengger defines international political theory loosely as a field that
“consists in ethical, historical and philosophical reflection on the manner and
matter of international politics”.^103 The resurgence of international political theory
is now well into its third decade. Initially spurred by key texts such as Michael
Walzer’s Just and Unjust Wars (originally published in 1977) and Charles Beitz’s
Political Theory and International Relations (1979) , it has greatly enriched our
understanding of the ethical character of international politics.^104 The discourse of
international political theory provides a fertile context in which to discuss our
international and global interactions as issues in applied political philosophy. A
focus on international political theory allows us, say, to read Thomas Pogge and
Paul Collier as interlocutors in a coherent debate on global poverty in a way that
would perhaps not otherwise be possible, given their divergent disciplinary
backgrounds in philosophy and economics.^105 Furthermore, it demonstrates that
issues that might previously have been seen as simply political are almost always
inextricably intertwined with complex ethical debates. Doing international political
103
Nicholas Rengger, "Reading Charles Beitz: Twenty-Five Years of Political Theory and
International Relations 104 ", Review of International Studies 31, no. 2 (2005): 361.
Charles R. Beitz, Political Theory and International Relations , 2nd ed. (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1999). Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument
with Historical Illustrations 105 , 3rd ed. (New York: Basic Books, 2000).
Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be
Done About It (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). Thomas Pogge, World Poverty and
Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reforms , 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Polity,
2008).