Why fight: Humanitarianism, principles, and post-structuralism

The reception of poststructuralist thought in Anglo-American circles, inclu ding the discipline of International Relations, has been more often than no t marked by the belief it offers no affirmative possibilities for ethics an d politics. Based in large part on Habermas's equation of post-modern thoug ht and neoconservative politics, this conventional wisdom is encapsulated i n Habermas's challenge to Foucault: "why fight at all?" This paper takes up the challenge to respond to this provocation by articulating the ethico-po litical rationale which inheres in poststructuralist thought, and illustrat ing how that rationale-organised around the affirmation of 'life' and the s truggle for and on behalf of alterity-can and does inform international pol itical practice. Animated by debates about the context of crisis and the ne ed for new codes, noons or principles in the domain of "humanitarianism." t his paper outlines how this concept, especially through its invocation of a liberal humanism, can be reworked to better address the ethico-political c hallenges engendered by crisis.