This article first situates the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) in relation to humanitarianism and the 'politics of humanity' through which common humanity is understood, negotiated and defended in response to 'crises of humanity'. It outlines the humanitarian negotiations at stake, connected with the mass atrocity crimes within the RtoP's remit. Second, it argues that, like other claims made 'in the name of humanity', the power relations implicit in attempts to create, delimit and safeguard 'humanitarian space' need to be unpacked. Third, it assesses the RtoP's potential to become a success with regard to the fulfilment of the humanitarian aspirations it represents, concluding that its inability to escape its political nature should be seen as a strength, not a weakness, but that the relationship between a humanitarian project like the RtoP and the notion of humanity will always be a dynamic, unpredictable and risky one, dependent on judicious political judgement.
This article contributes to the international political theory of humanitarianism by unpicking the politics of humanitarian action's simplest expression: saving human lives in the name of humanity. Both saving lives and defining notions of common humanity are closely interrelated acts of power. What saving a life means depends on a prior definition of humanity; humanitarians' acts of rescue are the measure of their commitment to humanity. The politics of rescue and the politics of humanity are inextricably linked. The article explores four facets of this nexus. First, it considers the meanings of rescue, from saving bodies to saving lives, linked to contingent understandings of humanity. Second, it turns to the rescuers, for whom rescue performs particular functions, not least the need to preserve a sense of self. Third, it situates their often narcissistic motives in relation to the consequences of humanitarian action. Fourth, it addresses the power imbalance inherent in rescue and the problem of causing harm. It concludes that rescue is always an act of presumption, but one that can be tempered by humanitarian actors willing to embrace their role as 'moral politicians' (Walzer), aware of their power and their dirty hands, and open to contrasting understandings of humanity.
Ethics. His work has centered on practical reasoning-by individuals (Practical Reasoning about Final Ends, ); by democratic polities (Democratic Autonomy, ); and by the moral community (in a book in progress tentatively titled Articulating the Moral Community).
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