Hello,

Greeting from the unusually warm and rainy Finnish December.  I just  
arrived here with professor Raymond "Bud" Duval and a graduate student  
Denis Kennedy.  Our aim is to hold a two day conference on the theme  
of "Humanitarianism".  This international seminar is partly funded by  
the professorship.  Other funding comes from the Finnish International  
Studies Association and Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

The program is below.

Yours,

Mika Aaltola

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Finnish International Studies Association (FISA) together with the  
Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights with the  
support of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and University  
of Minnesota's Government of Finland/David and Nancy Speer Visiting  
Professorship.

December 14-15th 2007

Registration is required! All registrations to Ms Sanna Villikka by  
November 29th :[log in to unmask]

The goal is to examine how lessons learned from the diverse emergency  
networks, which bring together national, defence, judicial, public  
policy, and civil society actors, can be used to illuminate  
contemporary humanitarianism. The workshop examines the extensive  
practice of international humanitarianism, expressive of the idea that  
individuals and their collectives have obligations to distant others  
and should work to reduce their suffering. The seminar will chart the  
vast and often ad-hoc institutional networks, comprised of states,  
international organizations, and non-governmental actors.

The fluxing humanitarian networks aim to improve the fates of  
millions, for example, by providing emergency assistance, supporting  
human rights, promoting good governance and democracy, helping to  
maintain the rule of law, eradicating poverty, fighting epidemic  
diseases and supplying medicines, helping war-torn societies, and  
using military means to protect basic rights. The humanitarian impulse  
and sentiment is often founded on ethical - as opposed to political -  
commitments are not to acknowledge territorial boundary. Boundaries  
are considered universal, extending beyond those who are 'like us'. In  
covering what is defined as the human polity - i.e. humanity -  
humanitarianism has become an expression of a world order. On the one  
hand, it is increasingly committed to both helping those in immediate  
danger and creating a more just, humane, and civilized human  
condition. On other hand, it shapes and moulds societies to fit a  
common Western pattern. Humanitarianism provides increasingly  
influential framework that the states have to take into account in  
justifying they actions. Ethics and politics weave complex networks of  
interaction between different actors and offer various roles for them.

Presentations on Friday, 14th of December are open for all interested.  
Registration by November 29 th to Sanna Villikka!

Paper proposals for Saturday's seminar session should be send to Mika  
Aaltola ( [log in to unmask] ) by November 29th.

Final Programme

Friday 14th of December, 10-16, Main Building of University of  
Helsinki (Unioninkatu 33), Konsistorisali.
Presentations

9:00-9:15   Opening remarks

9:15-10:15 Frédéric Mégret: Seeing the world through 'humanitarianism?

10:15-11:15 Liisa Laakso: "Humanitarian Aid and Development"


11:15-12:15 Kari Möttölä: "The European Union addressing the  
juxtaposition of soft and hard security"

Lunch

13:30-14:30   Raimo Väyrynen: ?Contemporary Humanitarian Crisis??

Coffee

15:00-16:00 Raymond Duvall: "Humanitarianism and Its Violences:  
Bodies, Beings, and the Politics of Caring"

16:00-17:00 Julian Reid: "The Global Governmentalisation of Humanitarianism"

Saturday: Closed Research Session