Humanitarian and Conflict Response: Books

The Politics and Everyday Practice of International Humanitarianism

Through a combination of eleven in-depth case studies of humanitarian emergencies and thematic chapters which cover key concepts, actors and activities, this book explores the work of the largest international humanitarian agencies. Its central argument is that politics play a fundamental role in determining humanitarian needs, practices, and outcomes. In making this argument, the book highlights the many challenges and dilemmas facing humanitarian agencies in the contemporary world. It covers significant ground-temporally, geographically and thematically. The case study chapters range from the late 1960s to the present, and include emergencies in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Europe. The thematic chapters are divided into three sections: the first explains key concepts and trends in international humanitarianism; the second discusses how the work of international humanitarian agencies interacts with a range of other actors-including media, celebrities, donors, states, civil society, military forces and armed groups-who have significant impacts on humanitarian response and outcomes; and the third turns to the operations and activities undertaken by aid agencies on a daily basis (Provided by Publisher).

Dr Miriam Bradley is a Senior Lecturer in Humanitarian Studies at The University of Manchester.

Humanitarian economics : war, disaster and the global aid market

Linking theory with policy and practice, this text introduces humanitarian economics as an emerging field of study that encompasses the economic and political economy dimensions of war, disaster, terrorism and humanitarianism. The work illustrates how economic analysis can improve our understanding of humanitarian crises, and how it can inform humanitarian actors, be it for example in negotiating with armed groups or in capturing the ambiguous role of aid in conflict (Provided by publisher).

From Migrants to Refugees - The Politics of Aid Along the Tanzania-Rwanda Border

In From Migrants to Refugees Jill Rosenthal tells the history of how Rwandan migrants in a Tanzanian border district became considered either citizens or refugees as nation-state boundaries solidified in the wake of decolonization. Outlining the process by which people who have long lived and circulated across the Rwanda-Tanzania border came to have a national identity, Rosenthal reveals humanitarian aid's central role in the ideological processes of decolonization and nation building. From precolonial histories to the first Rwandan refugee camps during decolonization in the 1960s to the massive refugee camps in the 1990s, Rosenthal highlights the way that this area became a testing ground for novel forms of transnational aid to refugees that had global implications. As local and national actors, refugees, and international officials all attempted to control the lives and futures of refugee groups, they contested the authority of the nation-state and the international refugee regime. This history, Rosenthal demonstrates, illuminates how tensions between state and international actors divided people who share a common history, culture, and language across national borders (Provided by Publisher).

This title was acquired through the Library's Order a Book service.

The Humanitarian Exit Dilemma : the Moral Cost of Withdrawing Aid

How should humanitarian organisations respond when their aid goes awry? Should they stay and remain engaged with the needy, or should they withdraw and leave? Investigating the choices involved and the judgements required when tackling these questions, this book explores the unique Humanitarian Exit Dilemma' that confronts humanitarian organisations. Humanitarian practitioners often are too concerned with the outcome of action but fail to recognise that there are other equally weighty moral considerations they should consider. Focusing simply on the results of projects, such as the number of lives saved alone, is inadequate. To address this problem, this book highlights three value-based normative considerations, namely humanitarian aid workers' special relationships with those whom they are assisting, humanitarian organisations' causal responsibility to assist those they have made vulnerable, and humanitarian organisations' obligations to fulfil reasonable expectations of those assisted. Together, these three non-instrumental reasonings serve as the main arguments of the author's value-based normative account, the Non-Consequentialist Approach', to address the Humanitarian Exit Dilemma. Offering a unique perspective on how humanitarian organisations should navigate the Humanitarian Exit Dilemma, this book will be of interest to scholars and practitioners in the field of Humanitarian Studies, African Studies, Refugee Studies, political philosophy, humanitarian action, and human rights (Provided by Publisher).

The Urban Refugee: Space, Agency and the New Urban Condition

This collection focuses on the spatial forms and urban consequences of forced migration. The chapters shed light on the multiple dimensions of the refugees’ urban experiences from the scale of the interiors to inner city neighborhoods and informal settlements, and from personal accounts to the formation of public discourse.

(Provided by Publisher).

Medical Care, Humanitarianism and Intimacy in the Long Second World War, 1931-1953

This book explores underexamined sites of interactions and encounters between humanitarians and medical workers during the long Second World War (1931-1953).It traces circulations of humanitarian actors, knowledge, and practices across the world from a conflict to another. In doing so, it demonstrates that the conflict brought about unlikely aid coalitions and intimate networks of aid and led to a transformation of the relationships between some European organisations and colonial 'peripheries', leading to the emergence of new activities and actors. This book also interrogates the traditional dichotomy between civilian and military cultures of rehabilitation, and readdresses the role of the United States and its rise as a 'humanitarian superpower. (Provided by Publisher.)

Laure Humbert is a Senior Lecturer in Modern History and Bertrand Taithe is Professor of Cultural History at the University of Manchester.