Description
The paper will trace the historical evolution of the concept of protection in the international arena. Closely interwoven with the rise of the victim from the 19th century onwards, and initially focussed on (military) victims of wars, the paper shows how the concept of protection expanded in tandem with the broadening and deepening of security and the diffusion of threats, risks, and vulnerabilities. We show that the concept draws on and aims at mobilizing emotions in a way that allow for interventions. Protection became in this way an important technology of (neoliberal) government within and across states, executed by a conglomerate of governmental and nongovernmental actors. We argue that protection mainly serves as ‘empty signifier’ used to justify a broad range of interventions.
