Michael Barnett is a leading thinker and scholar on humanitarianism, which as he says cannot be separated from humanity. Michael frames humanitarianism in the context of Empire, discussing the ongoing tensions between paternalism/control and compassion/giving that have been present since humanitarianism began. In more recent times humanitarianism has shifted from a voluntarism ethos to an expert professional ethos. The benefits and challenges of these changes are now under scrutiny. Professional experts, on the one hand, bring important knowledge and changes that save lives;  on the other hand, there has evolved a technocratic and instrumentalism that silences local and different voices and creates a managerialist machinery that stifles engagement.  

Michael shares his thinking that will be published in a forthcoming book co-authored with Unni Karankura,  "Humanitarianism in a Post-Liberal Age" (Cambridge University Press). Three areas he points to that are driving change are:

Securitization – how security is impacting humanitarian work in new ways, and more humanitarians are at risk today.

Marketisation – how market forces have radically changed the face of humanitarianism, whereas previously there was a split between the 'sacred-humanitarianism' and the 'profane-market', and now the two find themselves very entangled, with contested outcomes. 

Cosmopolitanism — the shift from human rights to a rooted cosmopolitanism in which the givers and receivers are questioning the quality of the aid relationship, typified by the rise of localization, the racial reckoning in the aid sector, and decolonizing aid. 

This is a fascinating and insightful discussion - enjoy.

Michael Barnett is a University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at the George Washington University. His research interests span the Middle East, humanitarianism, global governance, global ethics, and the United Nations. Author of Empire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism; his most recent books include The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of the American Jews; Paternalism Beyond Borders; and, most recently, the edited collection Humanitarianism and Human Rights: Worlds of Differences?

His current research projects include the changing forms of global governance, hierarchies in humanitarian governance; the end of the two-state solution and the rise of the one-state reality in Israel/Palestine; and the relationship between suffering and progress in the liberal international order.

A former Associate Editor of International Organization, Professor Barnett is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the recipient of many grants and awards for his research.

Contact Michael: https://elliott.gwu.edu/michael-barnett