The Dark Sides of Virtue

by Kennedy, David; Mayhew, Doug

• ISBN13: 9780691123943
• ISBN10: 0691123942
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-08-08
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

In this provocative and timely book, David Kennedy explores what can go awry when we put our humanitarian yearnings into action on a global scale--and what we can do in response. Rooted in Kennedy's own experience in numerous humanitarian efforts, the book examines campaigns for human rights, refugee protection, economic development, and for humanitarian limits to the conduct of war. It takes us from the jails of Uruguay to the corridors of the United Nations, from the founding of a non-governmental organization dedicated to the liberation of East Timor to work aboard an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. Kennedy shares the satisfactions of international humanitarian engagement--but also the disappointments of a faith betrayed. With humanitarianism's new power comes knowledge that even the most well-intentioned projects can create as many problems as they solve. Kennedy develops a checklist of the unforeseen consequences, blind spots, and biases of humanitarian work--from focusing too much on rules and too little on results to the ambiguities of waging war in the name of human rights. He explores the mix of altruism, self-doubt, self-congratulation, and simple disorientation that accompany efforts to bring humanitarian commitments to foreign settings. Writing for all those who wish that "globalization" could be more humane, Kennedy urges us to think and work more pragmatically. A work of unusual verve, honesty, and insight, this insider's account urges us to embrace the freedom and the responsibility that come with a deeper awareness of the dark sides of humanitarian governance.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xxvii
PART I The International Humanitarian as Advocate and Activist	1	(108)
The International Human Rights Movement: Part of the Problem?	3	(34)
Human Rights Occupies the Field of Emancipatory Possibility
Human Rights Views the Problem and the Solution Too Narrowly
Human Rights Generalizes Too Much
Human Rights Particularizes Too Much
Human Rights Is Limited by Its Relationship to Western Liberalism
Human Rights Promises More Than It Can Deliver
The Legal Regime of ``Human Rights,'' Taken as a Whole, Does More to Produce and Excuse Violations Than to Prevent and Remedy Them
The Human Rights Bureaucracy Is Itself Part of the Problem
The Human Rights Movement Strengthens Bad International Governance
Human Rights Promotion Can Be Bad Politics in Particular Contexts
Spring Break: The Activist Individual	37	(48)
Introductions
Thinking Ahead
Crossing Over
Professional Roles
Direct Examination: Telling Ana's Story
Cross-Examination: The Doctor's Tale
The Men of Libertad
Transition: Preparing to Act
A Moment of Advocacy
The Aftermath
Epilogue
Autumn Weekend: The Activist Community	85	(24)
Setting It Up
The Entrance
The Early Work of Establishment
The Platform Takes Off
A Constituted Life
PART II The International Humanitarian as Policy Maker	109	(216)
Humanitarian Policy Making: Pragmatism without Politics?	111	(38)
Looking for Politics Everywhere but in the Humanitarian Vernacular
Ideas with Consequences: The Politics of Policy Expertise
Humanitarians and the Exercise of Power
The Rule of Law as a Strategy for Economic Development	149	(20)
Legal Formalization
Corruption
Bringing Market Democracy to Eastern and Central Europe	169	(30)
International Trade: Normalcy and Deviation
Inside the European Union: Regulating the Internal Market
After the Fall: Brussels Engages the East
The Transition: Policy in Brussels
The Transition: Policy in the East
Alternatives: Improving the Terms of Engagement
The International Protection of Refugees	199	(36)
The UNHCR: Neither Resettlement nor Repatriation
Managing the UNHCR's Jurisdiction
Seeking Solutions for Refugees
Protection Debates: Neither Jurisdiction nor Solutions
Humanitarianism and Force	235	(90)
Humanitarianism about Warfare: The Emergence of Pragmatism
Humanitarianism in the War Machine
The Dark Sides of Humanitarian Policy Making --- Revisited
The Dark Sides of Humanitarian Pragmatism: Bad Faith and the Corrosion of Practical Reason
Nuclear Weapons in the World Court: Pragmatic Humanitarian Judging
PART III What International Humanitarianism Should Become	325	(34)
Humanitarian Power	327	(32)
International Humanitarianism Rules
International Humanitarianism Is Powerful
The Background Is the Foreground
Weigh Outcomes, Not Structures
It's Not about ``Intervening''
Ask Not for Whom the Humanitarian Toils
Tools Are Tools
Progress Is Not Program
Humanitarianism as Critique
Decision, at Once Responsible and Uncertain
Index	359