Humanitarianism Under Siege

* Epilogue discussing the international response to the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the war in Afghanistan * A fundamental text about the future of humanitarianism in the twenty-first century International humanitarian activities have grown enormously in scale over the past decade, and the complex links between humanitarian work and the worlds of politics and military engagement have become increasingly contested. Larry Minear uncovers what international humanitarians--including the UN, national governments, the Red Cross, and many private relief and development agencies--have learned about performing humanitarian work well, and the arguments that remain unresolved.

The Challenges of Famine Relief focuses on the two famine emergencies in the Sudan in the 1980s - the great African drought-related famine of 1984-86 and the conflict-related famine that afflicted the southern Sudan in 1988-91.

The international humanitarian intervention in Somalia was one of the most challenging operations ever conducted by US and UN military forces. Until Somalia, the UN had never run a Chapter VII exercise with large numbers of troops operating under a fighting mandate. It became a deadly test of the UN’s ability carry out a peace operation using force against an adversary determined to sabotage the intervention. Humanitarianism Under Fire is a candid, detailed historical and political narrative of this remarkably complicated intervention that was one of the first cases of multilateral action in the post-Cold War era. Rutherford presents new information gleaned from interviews and intensive research in five countries. His evidence shows how Somalia became a turning point in the relationship between the UN and US and how policy and strategy decisions in military operations continue to refer back to this singular event, even today.

Under Siege: Counter-Terrorism and Civil Society in Hungary critically examines the effects of Hungary’s counterterrorism and security policies on civil society organizations since the Fidesz party’s sweeping victory in 2010. It explores the historical and political depths of the government’s security apparatus, including the formation and implementation of its counter-terrorism laws, polices, and institutions, as well as the terrorism landscape. The author draws upon survey research conducted across four categories of civil society organizations, including peacebuilding, development, human rights advocacy, and humanitarianism, and extensive data collected through semi-structured interviews with members of the civil society community, security actors, legal experts, politicians, and scholars. This book argues that the Hungarian government’s counterterrorism and security regime has significantly altered the autonomous space in which civil society organizations operate and severely strained state-society relations.

From Bosnia to Somalia, and most recently from Rwanda to Angola and the Sudan, humanitarian aid and international interventions have gone awry. Although the need for humanitarian assistance has not diminished in the wake of the Cold War, success stories will almost certainly be harder to come by. This book addresses that grim prospect. Based on sch

This book provides a succinct but sophisticated understanding of humanitarianism and insight into the on-going dilemmas and tensions that have accompanied it since its origins in the early nineteenth century. Combining theoretical and historical exposition with a broad range of contemporary case studies, the book: provides a brief survey of the history of humanitarianism, beginning with the anti-slavery movement in the early nineteenth century and continuing to today’s challenge of post-conflict reconstruction and saving failed states explains the evolution of humanitarianism. Not only has it evolved over the decades, but since the end of the Cold War, humanitarianism has exploded in scope, scale, and significance presents an overview of the contemporary humanitarian sector, including briefly who the key actors are, how they are funded and what they do with their money analyses the ethical dilemmas confronted by humanitarian organization, not only in the abstract but also, and most importantly, in real situations and when lives are at stake examines how humanitarianism poses fundamental ethical questions regarding the kind of world we want to live in, what kind of world is possible, and how we might get there. An accessible and engaging work by two of the leading scholars in the field, Humanitarianism Contested is essential reading for all those concerned with the future of human rights and international relations.

What is humanitarianism? This authoritative book provides a comprehensive analysis of the original idea and its evolution, exploring its triangulation with war and politics. Peter J. Hoffman and Thomas G. Weiss trace the origins of humanitarianism, its social movement, and the institutions (international humanitarian law) and organizations (providers of assistance and protection) that comprise it. They consider the international humanitarian system’s ability to regulate the conduct of war, to improve the wellbeing of its victims, and to prosecute war criminals. Probing the profound changes in the culture and capacities that underpin the sector and alter the meaning of humanitarianism, they assess the reinventions that constitute “revolutions in humanitarian affairs.” The book begins with traditions and perspectives—ranging from classic international relations approaches to “Critical Humanitarian Studies” —and reviews seminal wartime emergencies and the creation and development of humanitarian agencies in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The authors then examine the rise of “new humanitarianisms” after the Cold War’s end and contemporary cases after 9/11. The authors continue by unpacking the most recent “revolutions”—the International Criminal Court and the “Responsibility to Protect”—as well as such core challenges as displacement camps, infectious diseases, eco-refugees, and marketization. They conclude by evaluating the contemporary system and the prospects for further transformations, identifying scholarly puzzles and the acute operational problems faced by practitioners.