Justification and Critique: Humanitarianism and Imperialism over Time

In his second contribution to this volume, B.S. Chimni sketches a history of international humanitarianism. He explores its complicity with the politics of imperialism which manifests itself in its contribution to the justification of the use of force. While Arnulf Becker Lorca (ch 5) and Lauren Benton (ch 9) address this issue in specific historical contexts—the Spanish-native encounters in the sixteenth century and parts of the nineteenth-century British Empire—this chapter can be read as a step towards writing a critical global history of humanitarianism, a step crucial to constructing an idea of humanitarianism that is not internally linked to the vision of empire. The chapter begins by briefly looking at the meaning of humanitarianism as it has evolved from colonialism to the present times. Subsequently it explores the idea of writing a global history of humanitarianism that would take cognizance of the non-western critique of the notion of humanitarianism. Third, it examines the role of humanitarianism in the era of colonialism in comparison to the practice of contemporary humanitarianism in the backdrop of key features of present world order. Finally it debates how we can integrate power and principles to avoid the complicity of humanitarianism with the politics of imperialism.