Responsible Politics of the Neutral: Rethinking International Humanitarianism in the Red Cross Movement via the Philosophy of Roland Barthes

Abstract

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) offers a dilemma for international political theory. ICRC's success as a humanitarian actor in international conflict is credited to its neutral stance. However, ICRC neutrality is vulnerable to serious challenges regarding its supposed avoidance of the political. ICRC neutrality is commonly dismissed as either illusory or impossible. The problem is not grounded in the principle of neutrality itself, though, but rather in the lack of critical engagement with what it means to be neutral on a humanitarian register. ICRC misreads the demands of neutrality in such ways as to permit both partiality and irresponsibility to its mission. Drawing from Roland Barthes' address of the neutral, I argue that international humanitarianism is possible as a neutral movement but that this neutrality can only be such through vigorous and fundamentally political movement responsible to the goals of human well-being and dignity as questions.

Keywords

Barthes humanitarian humanity ICRC impartiality neutrality

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agamben

2002. ‘What is a Paradigm’. Lecture, European Graduate School, at http://www.egs.edu/faculty/agamben/agamben-what-is-a-paradigm-2002.html.

Auvinen

Kivimaki

2000. ‘Somalia: The Struggle for Resources’, in Nafziger

Steward

W. F.

Vayrynen

(eds), War, Hunger and Displacement, Vol 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Avant

2007. ‘NGOs, Corporations and Security Transformations in Africa’, International Relations 21(2): 143–61.

Badmington

2008. ‘The “Inkredible” Roland Barthes’, Paragraph 31(1): 84–94.

Baron

I. Z.

2004. ‘The Importance of Politics: Rethinking the Neutral/Political Divide’, Rubikon, at http://venus.ci.uw.edu.pl/∼rubikon/forum/neutrality.htm.

Barthes

2005. The Neutral: Lecture Course at the College de France (1977–1978), trans. Hollier

Krauss

. New York: Columbia University Press.

Berry

N. O.

1997. War and the Red Cross: The Unspoken Mission. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Blondel

J.L.

1987. ‘Getting Access to the Victims: Role and Activities of the ICRC’, Journal of Peace Research 24(3): 307–14.

Brauman

Tanguy

1993. ‘Work in the Field: The Médecins Sans Frontières Experience’, in Cahill

K. M.

(ed.), A Framework for Survival: Health, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Assistance in Conflicts and Disasters. Basic Books.

10.

Bryans

Jones

B. D.

Stein

Gross J.

1999. Mean Times: Humanitarian Action in Complex Political Emergencies — Stark Choices, Cruel Dilemmas. Report from the NGOs in Complex Emergencies Project. Toronto: University of Toronto Centre for International Studies.

11.

Campbell

1998. ‘Why Fight: Humanitarianism, Principles, and Poststructuralism’, Millennium: Journal of International Studies 27(3): 497–521.

12.

Caratsch

1993. ‘Humanitarian Design and Political Interference: Red Cross Work in the Post-Conflict War Period’, International Relations 11(4): 301–13.

13.

Chandler

2001. ‘The Road to Military Humanitarianism: How the Human Rights NGOs Shaped A New Humanitarian Agenda’, Human Rights Quarterly 23: 678–700.

14.

Chatterjee

2004. The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World. New York: Columbia University Press.

15.

Coulter

2006. ‘Book Review: Roland Barthes, Artist Professor — Pedagogy From the Margins of the Margins’, International Journal of Baudrillard Studies 3(2), at http://www.ubishops.ca/BaudrillardStudies/vol3_2barthes.htm.

16.

Donald

2003. ‘Neutral Is Not Impartial: The Confusing Legacy of Traditional Peace Operations Thinking’, Armed Forces & Society 29(3): 415–48.

17.

Edkins

2000. Whose Hunger? Concepts of Famine, Practices of Aid. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.

18.

Forsythe

D. P.

2005. ‘Naming and Shaming: The Ethics of ICRC Discretion’, Millennium: Journal of International Studies 34(2): 461–74.

19.

Gnaedinger

2007. ‘Protection of Civilians in Conflict — The ICRC Perspective'. Address by ICRC Director-General at Humanitarian and Resident Coordinators’ Retreat, Geneva, at http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/children-statement-140507.

20.

Grotius

2004. On the Law of War and Peace. Whitefish: Kessinger Publications

21.

Harroff-Tavel

2003. ‘Does It Still Make Sense to Be Neutral?’, HumanitarianExchange Magazine 23, at http://www.odihpn.org/report.asp?id=2576.

22.

Haug

1996 ‘Neutrality as a Fundamental Principle of the Red Cross’, International Review of the Red Cross (315): 627–30.

23.

Hobbes

1996. Leviathan, ed. Tuck

. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

24.

Hyndman

2000. Managing Displacement: Refugees and the Politics of Humanitarianism. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.

25.

ICRC.

1965. Proclamation of the Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross. The XXth International Conference of the Red Cross, Vienna.

26.

ICRC.

1996a. ‘The Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief’, International Review of the Red Cross 310: 55–130.

27.

ICRC.

1996b. The Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Geneva: ICRC Publication, ref. 0513, at http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/p0513/$File/ICRC_002_0513.PDF.

28.

ICRC.

2000. ‘Assistance: General Introduction’, at http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/assistance_general_intro.

29.

ICRC.

2009a. The ICRC: Its Mission and Work. Geneva: ICRC Publications.

30.

ICRC.

2009b. Interpretive Guidance on the Notion of Direct Participation in Hostilities Under International Humanitarian Law. Geneva: ICRC Publications.

31.

ICRC.

2009c. Professional Standards for Protection Work: Carried Out by Humanitarian and Human Rights Actors in Armed Conflict and Other Situations of Violence. Geneva: ICRC Publications.

32.

Ignatieff

1998. ‘Television and Humanitarian Aid’, in Moore

(ed.), Hard Choices: Moral Dilemmas in Humanitarian Intervention. Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

33.

Isin

E. F.

2002. Being Political: Genealogies of Citizenship. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.

34.

Kant

1991. Kant: Political Writings, ed. Reiss

Nisbet

H. B.

. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

35.

Kleinfeld

2007. ‘Misreading the Post-tsunami Political Landscape in Sri Lanka: The Myth of Humanitarian Space’, Space and Polity 11(2): 169–84.

36.

Krähenbühl

2004. ‘Is There a Future for Independent Humanitarian Action?’, Refugee Survey Quarterly 23(4): 28–33.

37.

Brun

J. C.

2003. ‘Neutrality and the ICRC Contribution to Contemporary Humanitarian Operations’, International Peacekeeping 10(1): 56–72.

38.

Mills

2005. ‘Neo-Humanitarianism: The Role of International Humanitarian Norms and Organizations in Contemporary Conflict’, Global Governance 11(2): 161–83.

39.

Minear

1999. ‘The Theory and Practice of Neutrality: Some Thoughts on the Tensions’, International Review of the Red Cross 81(833): 63–72.

40.

Nyers

2006. Rethinking Refugees: Beyond States of Emergency. London and New York: Routledge.

41.

O'Meara

2008. ‘Atonality and Tonality: Musical Analogies in Roland Barthes's Lectures at the Collège de France’, Paragraph 31(1): 9–22.

42.

Pint

2008. ‘How to Become What One Is: Roland Barthes's Final Fantasy’, Paragraph 31(1): 38–49.

43.

Plattner

1996. ‘ICRC Neutrality and Neutrality in Humanitarian Assistance’, International Review of the Red Cross 311: 161–79.

44.

Pound

(2005). ‘Baffle’, The Semiotic Review of Books 15(3), at http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/epc/srb.

45.

Rancière

1998. Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.

46.

Rousseau

J.J.

1987a. ‘Discourse on the Origin of Inequality’, in Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Basic Political Writings, trans. Cress

D. A.

. Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 25–109.

47.

Rousseau

J.J.

1987b. ‘On the Social Contract’, in Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Basic Political Writings, trans. Cress

D. A.

. Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 141–227.

48.

Sandoz

1987. ‘The Red Cross and Peace Realities and Limits’, Journal of Peace Research 24(3): 287–96.

49.

Saussure

1986. Course in General Linguistics, trans. Harris

. LaSalle, IL: Open Court.

50.

Schimmel

2006. ‘Humanitarianism and Politics: The Dangers of Contrived Separation’, Development in Practice 16(3): 303–15.

51.

Slim

1997. ‘Relief Agencies and Moral Standing in War: Principles of Humanity, Neutrality, Impartiality and Solidarity’, Development in Practice 7(4): 342–52.

52.

Thürer

2007. ‘Dunant's Pyramid: Thoughts on the “Humanitarian Space”, International Review of the Red Cross 89(865): 47–61.

53.

Verdirame

Harrell-Bond

2005. Rights in Exile: Janus-Faced Humanitarianism. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.

54.

Walker

R. B. J.

1993. Inside/Outside: International Relations as Political Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

55.

Warner

2005. ‘Naming and Shaming: The ICRC and the Public/Private Divide’, Millennium: Journal of International Studies 34(2): 449–60.

56.

Warner

1999. ‘The Politics of the Political/Humanitarian Divide’, International Review of the Red Cross 81(833): 109–18.

57.

Weiss

T. G.

1999. ‘Principles, Politics, and Humanitarian Action’, Ethics & International Affairs 13(1): 1–22.