Empire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism by Barnett Michael

Author:Barnett, Michael
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8014-6109-5
Publisher: Cornell University Press

Part III

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The Age of Liberal Humanitarianism

PREVIOUS PAGE: Figure 10 ICRC flag in tatters in war zone.

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It’s a Humanitarian’s World

IN RETROSPECT, the readiness of so many sober politicians and intellectuals to treat the end of the Cold War as a miracle that would usher in a more glorious world seems more than a little bit baffling. But at the time it was understandable. Extrapolating from the history of Great Power competitions during the Cold War, most experts had direly predicted that the balance of terror between the Soviet Union and the United States would end in a major war, perhaps even a nuclear exchange that might presage the end of days. Yet the Soviets and the Americans amazingly ended their rivalry in a fit of cooperation and goodwill. Whereas once the belief was that the best way to prepare for peace was to prepare for war, the new sentiment in security thinking was that preparing for war only made war more likely and that the right mix of security institutions could produce dependable expectations of peaceful change. After decades of worrying about a nuclear Armageddon, the West discovered that it had become a zone of peace.

As the Cold War exited the global stage, international liberalism entered, and a greater contrast could hardly be imagined. Whereas the Cold War coddled authoritarian governments, the rise of international liberalism meant a new day for democracy. The third wave of democratization began in the 1980s, but it became a bona fide fad only with the extraordinary rise in the number of new democracies during the 1990s. Whereas the Cold War had stunted the possibility of truly internationalized markets, international liberalism unleashed the simultaneous process of economic globalization and economic liberalization. Even the world’s two major socialist countries, the Soviet Union and China, got market fever. Liberalism worked wonders. It was good for individuals. It was good for societies. Democracies and markets were the touchstones of human freedom, human freedom entailed human rights, human rights included the rule of law, and the rule of law was essential for economic and political liberalization. It was good for global security and prosperity. Liberal states are more peaceful toward their neighbors and their societies, are more trustworthy, and protect the autonomy and liberty of the individual through a culture of law and human rights. Democracy, markets, and the rule of law: if not the holy trinity then at least the troika of the liberal world order.

The Western powers led a campaign to try to extend and deepen international liberalism, and rather like the missionaries of the nineteenth century, they worked with the confidence of believers and the urgency of those who were racing against time. They were enjoying the benefits of liberalism and wanted to share those benefits with the have-nots. And, there was little time to lose, because at the very moment that the world was celebrating their new chapter of peace, it began to catch a glimpse of a darker future.

For all its benefits, the end of the Cold War seemingly unleashed a flurry of pent-up violence.

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