Seminar on Humanitarianism and World Order

Target group/Course level

Postgraduate students

Content

The generally accepted defining principle of humanitarianism is an inclusive entity of “humanity”, i.e. polity is the widest sense of human polity. The central idea behind this envisioned community is that in a human polity all individuals are of equal worth and thus are deserving of assistance if in need. Underlying this humanitarian principle is presumably apolitical ethical commitments. These point to the need to go beyond territorial or civilization boundaries. Human polity is the most extensive and inclusive of communities in its definition of who a deserving of being ‘like us’. The seminar will critically evaluate questions about such a universalist view, and will address tensions in the complex relationships between ethical humanitarianisms and openly political considerations. Seminar aims to tackle the tension between compassion as a sentiment, cognition, and strategy. It will examine the multifaceted networks of international humanitarianism and their intimate connections with the changing faces of contemporary power politics.

Modern strand of humanitarianism became distinct in North America and Europe in the midnineteenth century. It has led to the emergence of what Hannah Arendt referred to as an institutionalized “passion for compassion.” This instititutionalized form may be distinguished from its close siblings, the institutional forms of human rights and developmentalism. Formal organizations emerged in a range of areas dedicated to the idea of providing relief to those in emergencies – i.e. in immediate danger – whereas its siblings worked more with reducing the suffering of the masses and with eliminating the perceived ‘root causes’ that place individuals in peril. However, humanitarianism materialized also in a more long-term political movement and mobilizations including prison and child labor reforms as well as the international campaign against slave-trade. Other expression of this humanitarian ethos were charitable and missionary work as well as the formation of the International Committee of the Red Cross and international humanitarian law. However, the politics of compassion involve also other political bodies that individual ones. Much of human history, polities - i.e. poleis, city-states, nations, states, and hegemonies - have been the primary objects of politically mobilizing bursts of compassion.