Saving the Children

Humanitarianism, Internationalism, and Empire

Emily Baughan

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780520343726
• eBook ISBN: 9780520975118
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Modern British History
• Index: History

Saving the Children analyzes the intersection of liberal internationalism and imperialism through the history of the humanitarian organization Save the Children, from its formation during the First World War through the era of decolonization. Whereas Save the Children claimed that it was "saving children to save the world," the vision of the world it sought to save was strictly delimited, characterized by international capitalism and colonial rule. Emily Baughan's groundbreaking analysis, across fifty years and eighteen countries, shows that Britain's desire to create an international order favorable to its imperial rule shaped international humanitarianism. In revealing that modern humanitarianism and its conception of childhood are products of the early twentieth-century imperial economy, Saving the Children argues that the contemporary aid sector must reckon with its past if it is to forge a new future.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1  •  British Internationalisms and Humanitarianism
• 2  •  The Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child and Stateless Children
• 3  •  Empire, Humanitarianism, and the African Child
• 4  •  Protecting Children in a Time of War
• 5  •  Hearts and Minds Humanitarianism
• 6  •  War, Development, and Decolonization
• Conclusion: One Hundred Years of Saving Children
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index