The Politics of Humanity

contingencies of their endeavour, they can, by taking injustice seriously, create
useful framings to politicise their empathetic responses to suffering.
In doing so, the question arises of what conceptual and, especially, political
space humanitarianism ultimately occupies. Chapter 6 first examines the notion of
“humanitarian space”, identifying behind it an undesirable attempt to ring-fence
humanitarian identity and an impossible struggle for complete independence from
other political actors, most importantly states. The chapter defends the legitimacy
of the state as a collective actor within the “politics of humanity”, arguing that the
state, at its best, can come to crystallise and enact many expressions of human
solidarity. I draw on Peter Lawler’s concept of the “good state” and his suggestion
to revive an internationalist tradition in international political theory, rather than
seeing cosmopolitan theories as the only framework to take a more expansive
human solidarity forward. I illustrate this potential by engaging in depth with the
internationalism of Michael Walzer, showing that he provides us with a plausible
account within which to situate the contingent workings of the humanitarian
impulse, to crystallise humanitarian gains and to reach out at moments of “crisis of
humanity”.
I conclude the analysis of the thesis by suggesting that, taking into account
both the excesses of humanitarianism and the inevitability, if we still wish to honour
our common humanity, of engaging in a “politics of humanity”, we should be
sensitive to a “democratic impulse” in conducting that politics, one that
acknowledges the presumptions of humanitarian action, but is sensitive to the
fallibility of those presumptions and the validity of alternate experiences of
humanity. Finally, I demonstrate that the account given in the thesis of
humanitarianism and its “politics of humanity” offers the potential of real analytical
value-added in the context of the major “crisis of humanity” threatened by
anthropogenic climate change, a problem that promises to challenge our resources
of human solidarity most profoundly in the decades to come.