CIAO DATE: 10/05

Is Humanitarianism Part of the Problem? Nine Theses

Executive Summary

The word "humanitarianism" describes the worldview, aspirations, professional vocabularies, and actions affirming the common dignity of humankind regardless of differences in race, gender, religion, national belonging, political creed, or any other accident of birth or contextual circumstance. The growing influence of human rights norms in international politics explains why humanitarianism has affirmed itself as a global ideology. While up to the end of the Cold War states, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) had to go to great lengths to justify their interference in the domestic affairs of other states, today the opposite is the case. States are under a great deal of pressure to explain why they do not want to intervene, either militarily, politically, or economically to promote and protect human rights. The assumption has turned in favor of such intervention, not against it. Humanitarianism seems on its way to radically changing the Westphalian international order.

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