Depoliticising Humanitarian Action

Paradigms, Dilemmas, Resistance
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-03-253509-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 296 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Routledge Humanitarian Studies

Is it ever possible to separate humanitarian action from politics? Drawing on the expertise of both practitioners and researchers, this book is an essential guide to the thorny interplay between what are too often considered as separate worlds. 

The humanitarian sector aims to separate its work from politics, arguing that independence and neutrality are essential in order to gain entry into disaster and conflict settings. Yet, humanitarian claims of non-involvement in politics have also been dismissed as misleading, naive, or counter-productive. In practice, humanitarians find themselves working within political settings on a daily basis. This book investigates the theory behind depoliticization, the political background and context behind humanitarian action, and the daily dilemmas faced by practitioners walking that fine line between principles and pragmatism. Finally, the book considers the importance of decolonising mainstream understandings of humanitarianism and politics, and of placing understandings from the Global South at the heart of the discussion.

Balancing theoretical insights with empirical grounding, field examples and recommendations for policy and practice, this book is perfect for researchers and students in humanitarian studies, political science, international relations, human rights, development studies, disaster studies and peace and conflict studies, as well as humanitarian practitioners and policy makers.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate, Professional Practice & Development, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Corbet, Alice

Desportes, Isabelle

Siddiqi, Ayesha

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen Nationale und Internationale Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Entwicklungsstudien
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Soziale Folgen von Katastrophen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Genozid und ethnische Säuberung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Nichtregierungsorganisation (NGOs)
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Geopolitik
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Entwicklungsökonomie & Emerging Markets
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Internationale Organisationen und Institutionen
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Gewalt Völkermord, Ethnische Säuberung, Kriegsverbrechen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1: Depoliticising humanitarian action: Understanding and countering the status quo in an age of crises  SECTION I: Depoliticising paradigms  Humanitarians without politics?: Practitioner intervention  Chapter 2: Humanitarianism and neoliberal rationality as a depoliticising ideology  Chapter 3: Resilience versus surveillance humanitarianism: How two conflicting paradigms depoliticise aid and affirm the top-down status quo  Chapter 4: Austere rationalities: UK food banks, humanitarian practice and the depoliticisation of need  Chapter 5: How media depoliticise disasters in Indigenous contexts  SECTION II: Depoliticisation dilemmas  Principles versus pragmatism: Humanitarian diplomacy dilemmas from Cox’s Bazar to Kyiv: Practitioner intervention  Chapter 6: Access over advocacy: The depoliticisation of Myanmar’s 2012 Rohingya internally displaced persons’ crisis  Chapter 7: Depoliticisation is disaster risk creation: Insights on non-government organisations’ disaster prevention and humanitarian response in the Philippines  Chapter 8: Depoliticising humanitarian aid in Lebanon: National and Gulf actors between co-optation and independence from Western institutions  SECTION III: Resisting Depoliticisation  Bottom-up humanitarianism: Practitioner intervention  Chapter 9: Resisting depoliticisation: Alternative humanitarian advocacy from the experiences of women and feminists in Colombia  Chapter 10: Ruptures and contingencies in a bottom-up humanitarian assemblage: a history of peasants, territories and displacement in Colombia  Chapter 11: Politics, principles and practice among medical-humanitarian volunteers in protest and revolutionary settings  Chapter 12: Conclusion: Alternative visions for humanitarianism

Über Autor(innen)

Isabelle Desportes is a Research Fellow at the Disaster Research Unit, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. Her research focuses on the (hidden) politics of disaster prevention and humanitarian response, including in authoritarian conflict settings.

Alice Corbet is an anthropologist working for the French National Centre for Scientific Research. She does consulting work for non-governmental organisations and works on the issues of refugees and displaced persons, encampment and humanitarian relations.

Ayesha Siddiqi is a University Lecturer at the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Her research examines postcolonial geographies of disasters.