Over the last two decades the human rights discourse has become increasingly hegemonic and become increasingly prominent in the humanitarian sector. Many lead aid agencies have been quite ambivalent about this development. Some have embraced a “rights-based” orientation. Others, though, have exhibited considerable anxiety, worrying that human rights might corrupt humanitarianism. Why the anxiety? What is at stake? Through a comparative examination of their practices, and the growing role of legal discourse in human rights in contrast with the moral and technical discourse of humanitarianism, Michael Barnett will argue that these two cosmopolitan projects contain very different valences of power and views of global ethics. Barnett is one of the world's leading authorities on humanitarianism – its history, its trajectory, and its relationship with religion. In 2012 he co-edited the book Sacred Aid: Humanitarianism and Moral Imagination which examines the dynamic relationship between the secularization and sanctification of humanitarianism. He is also the author of an extensive history of the subject in Empire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism. Barnett's latest book, The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of American Jews, will be released in March 2016. Michael Barnett is University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the recipient of many grants and awards for his research. He most recently served as the Harold Stassen Chair of International Relations and professor of political science at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.