Humanitarianism As Political Fusion

In: Perspectives on politics: a political science public sphere, Band 3, Heft 4, S. 741-744

Abstract

In this commentary on Michael Barnett's article Humanitarianism Transformed (this volume), the author argues that the current politicization of humanitarianism offers opportunities as well as constraints. Asserting that the end of the Cold War opened the way for transformative logics, humanitarianism has been evolving to allow explicit consideration of the political. Although the author agrees with Barnett's assessment of increased professionalization & institutionalization of humanitarianism, the broader question of defining the causal sequence of continued dependence on external resources must be addressed. The phenomena of fused politics of solidarity & governance is identified as the determinate of future success by organizations in the next wave of humanitarianism. References. J. Harwell