Law, Humanitarianism, and Critique

The Erik Castrén Institute ( eci ) was founded in 1998 at a moment in history when human rights had become to be seen as the beacon of the liberal world order. However, as inevitable as the world order guided by human rights and humanitarian values might have seemed in the late 1990s, the moment soon melted into one of disenchantment, reflected in the populist backlash. This article provides an overview of law, human rights, and humanitarianism during eci ’s life so far, with a special focus on how critical scholars have responded to changes in the field and to shifting constellations of power. Using Russia’s aggression against Ukraine as an example, the article also maps current trends in the field, arguing that, after the hegemony of the United States, we have now entered an era of fragmentation – an era that is characterised by strategic uses of the humanity language.