Idealism beyond Borders: The French Revolutionary Left and the Rise of Humanitarianism, 1954–1988 (Human Rights in History)

This is a major new account of how modern humanitarian action was shaped by transformations in the French intellectual and political landscape from the 1950s to the 1980s. Eleanor Davey reveals how radical left third-worldism was displaced by the 'sans-frontiériste' movement as the dominant way of approaching suffering in what was then called the third world. Third-worldism regarded these regions as the motor for international revolution, but revolutionary zeal disintegrated as a number of its regimes took on violent and dictatorial forms. Instead, the radical humanitarianism of the 'sans-frontiériste' movement pioneered by Médecins Sans Frontières emerged as an alternative model for international aid. Covering a period of major international upheavals and domestic change in France, Davey demonstrates the importance of memories of the Second World War in political activism and humanitarian action and underlines the powerful legacies of Cold War politics for international affairs since the fall of the Iron Curtain "This is a major new account of how modern humanitarian action was shaped by transformations in the French intellectual and political landscape between the 1960s to 1980s. Eleanor Davey reveals how radical Left third-worldism was displaced by the 'sans-frontieriste' movement as the dominant way of approaching suffering in what was then called the Third World. Third-worldism regarded these regions as the motor for international revolution, but revolutionary zeal disintegrated as a number of its regimes took on violent and dictatorial forms. Instead, the radical humanitarianism of the 'sans-frontieriste' movement pioneered by Medecins Sans Frontieres emerged as an alternative model for international aid. Covering a period of major international upheavals and domestic change in France, Davey demonstrates the importance of memories of the Second World War in political activism and humanitarian action and underlines the powerful legacies of Cold War politics for international affairs since the fall of the Iron Curtain"-- Provided by publisher This is a major new account of how modern humanitarian action was shaped by transformations in the French intellectual and political landscape from the 1950s to the 1980s. Eleanor Davey reveals how radical left third-worldism was displaced by the 'sans-frontiériste' movement as the dominant way of approaching suffering in what was then called the third world. Third-worldism regarded these regions as the motor for international revolution, but revolutionary zeal disintegrated as a number of its regimes took on violent and dictatorial forms. Instead, the radical humanitarianism of the 'sans-frontiériste' movement pioneered by Médecins Sans Frontières emerged as an alternative model for international aid. Covering a period of major international upheavals and domestic change in France, Davey demonstrates the importance of memories of the Second World War in political activism and humanitarian action and underlines the powerful legacies of Cold War politics for international affairs since the fall of the Iron Curtain This is a major new account of how modern humanitarian action was shaped by transformations in the French intellectual and political landscape between the 1960s to 1980s. Eleanor Davey reveals how radical left third-worldism was displaced by the 'sans-frontiériste' movement as the dominant way of approaching suffering in what was then called the third world. Third-worldism regarded these regions as the motor for international revolution, but revolutionary zeal disintegrated as a number of its regimes took on violent and dictatorial forms. Instead, the radical humanitarianism of the 'sans-frontiériste' movement pioneered by Médecins Sans Frontières emerged as an alternative model for international aid. Covering a period of major international upheavals and domestic change in France, Davey demonstrates the importance of memories of the Second World War in political activism and humanitarian action and underlines the powerful legacies of Cold War politics for international affairs since the fall of the Iron Curtain This study charts the course of two activist movements in France, tiers-mondiste and sans-frontiériste, and the process by which one came to displace the other as the dominant way of approaching suffering and injustice in the third world. It is a contribution to the historiography of the post-war transformation of the French intellectual and political landscape and sheds light upon the intellectual origins and evolution of modern French humanitarianism. Covering a period of major international upheavals and domestic transformation in France, it underlines the powerful legacy of Cold War politics for international affairs since the fall of the Iron Curtain. It was joint recipient of the International Studies Association Ethics Section Book Prize (2017). Description taken from article at eleanordavey.com/idealism-beyond-borders Cover Half title Series Title Copyright Dedication Epigraph Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Part I Idealism beyond borders 1 A revolution in aid: the creation of sans-frontiérisme 2 Aiding the revolution: influences on tiers-mondisme Part II Violence and morality 3 The struggle for international justice: tiers-mondiste engagement on the outskirts of May 4 Complicity, conscience, and autocritique: reconfiguring attitudes to political violence 5 A rhetoric of responsibility: Vichy, the Holocaust, and suffering in the third world Part III Ethics and polemics 6 Idealism beyond borders: the turn to sans-frontiériste spectacle 7 Controversy in a humanitarian age: attacks on tiers-mondisme in the 1980s Conclusion Notes Index Major new study of the political and intellectual origins of modern humanitarianism from the 1950s to the 1980s