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Introduction The modern global humanitarian system takes the form it does because it is underpinned by liberal world order, the post-1945 successor to the imperial world of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the global political and economic system the European empires created. Humanitarian space, as we have come to know it in the late twentieth century, is liberal space, even if many of those engaged in humanitarian action would rather not see themselves as liberals. To the extent that there is something constitutively
don’t have the power to make good on whatever has been agreed. And this is assuming major Western governments still believe it to be important to support relief agencies. The political landscape in which the humanitarian movement took current form has changed radically. Even a ‘centrist restoration’ in the US and Europe might not be enough to prevent this movement’s relative decline. In Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s The Leopard , one of the principle characters says of the revolutionary era in which the novel is set: ‘For things to remain the same
? ‘Armed conflict’ is commonly reduced to a dummy variable in analyses of the causes and dynamics of acute food security crises, while ‘political will’ (or lack thereof) substitutes for a lack of analysis of the logic of elite political actions. We assess how the PMF might open up these analytical ‘black boxes’ and thereby help explain the dynamics that lead to such crises. 2. How can understanding PM systems complement other forms of humanitarian analysis to
This is the second general issue of the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs , following in the wake of two themed issues on Extreme Violence, and Gender and Humanitarianism respectively. It comes at a time when COVID-19 has resulted in rising global inequalities, including those based on gender, and the spectre of famine has returned to public consciousness – for example, in northern Ethiopia. Gender and violence – the latter of a more indirect form – both feature in this issue, as do
be found? And what could they learn from each other? This special issue uses the past and present of humanitarian communication as a point of departure to begin a joint reflection on the possibilities and potentials of more collaboration. Our focus is particularly on visual media. Together, historians and practitioners discuss the role of visual media in humanitarian communication, ask how this role has formed out historically, and explore what changes it may be undergoing currently. The forum
approach to innovation in humanitarian action, and other calls have been made specifically to devise principles for ethical humanitarian innovations. The need to make innovation ethical implies that unethical forms exist, which raises the questions of who is to judge and at what point in time ( Elhra, n.d. ; University of Oxford, Refugee Studies Centre, 2015 ). Arguably, innovation in the humanitarian field has always been contested, with over-optimistic assumptions about technological fixes matched by
this violence. 2 Misconception 1: Conflict-Related Sexual Violence against Men and Boys Is Almost Always Perpetrated in Detention and Imprisonment A common misconception is that conflict-related sexual violence against men and boys is almost always perpetrated in detention and imprisonment, often as a form of torture. Yet where and when sexual violence against men and boys is perpetrated is dependent on the setting, the type of conflict, the parties to
cover for governments and institutions to co-opt and channel criticism ( de Waal, 2015 : 31–6). In humanitarian action, activism manifested in the form of the Cambodian March for Survival, in 1980, when many aid representatives organised a demonstration at the Thai-Cambodian border to allow cross-border assistance into Cambodia ( Weissman, 2011 : 179). While activism is a confrontational form of realising change, advocacy relies on building relationships
-cultural context, the third is a consequence of the decentralised milieu in which the gacaca courts were inserted, the fourth is the result of the overall political context in which the gacaca activities took place. The following sections will focus on the nature of these expressive forms – styles of truth – in the gacaca assemblage and the nature of their interaction. These dimensions of the truth were not all equally important in the actual gacaca practice. A concluding section aims to identify what style of truth dominated most and why. The Forensic Truth
-and-rescue missions. But it is citizen movements that have been at the forefront of the emergency response. Similarly inspired by cosmopolitan ideals, these groups tend to use more political language than conventional NGOs, presenting their relief activities as a form of direct resistance to nationalist politics and xenophobia. As liberal humanitarianism is challenged in its European heartland, they are developing – through practice – a new model of humanitarian engagement. SOS MEDITERRANEE is an ad hoc citizen initiative founded in 2015 to prevent the death of