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Because the job of the United Nations is to assure world security, it has been, since the end of the Cold War, the first humanitarian power of the planet. On all fronts, the UN and its numerous specialized institutions have put in place, with impressive means, a new diplomacy of compassion. Far from allowing development and peace, this activism has generated resentment and disillusions in the heart of 'benefiting' populations. The recorded setbacks demonstrate that humanitarian action alone cannot replace politics to guarantee collective security. Sylvie Brunel, Geographer, Jurist and Economist, is Professor of the Paul-Valery University (Montpellier III) and at the Institut d'études politiques (IEP) in Paris, after a service of 17 years in Humanitarian Aid. She has published: Le Développement durable (Paris, Puf, 2004), L’Afrique (Rosny-sous-Bois, Bréal, 2004), Frontières (Paris, Denoël, 2003).