by Michael Barnett (Author), Michael Barnett (Author), Thomas G. Weiss (Author)
Years of tremendous growth in response to complex emergencies have left a mark on the humanitarian sector. Various matters that once seemed settled are now subjects of intense debate. What is humanitarianism? Is it limited to the provision of relief to victims of conflict, or does it include broader objectives such as human rights, democracy promotion, development, and peacebuilding?
For much of the last century, the principles of humanitarianism were guided by neutrality, impartiality, and independence. More recently, some humanitarian organizations have begun to relax these tenets. The recognition that humanitarian action can lead to negative consequences has forced humanitarian organizations to measure their effectiveness, to reflect on their ethical positions, and to consider not only the values that motivate their actions but also the consequences of those actions.
In the indispensable Humanitarianism in Question, Michael Barnett and Thomas G. Weiss bring together scholars from a variety of disciplines to address the humanitarian identity crisis, including humanitarianism's relationship to accountability, great powers, privatization and corporate philanthropy, warlords, and the ethical evaluations that inform life-and-death decision making during and after emergencies.
Contributors: Michael Barnett, University of Minnesota; Craig Calhoun, New York University; James D. Fearon, Stanford University; Laura Hammond, SOAS, University of London; Peter J. Hoffman, Hunter College; Stephen Hopgood, SOAS, University of London; Peter Redfield, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Jennifer C. Rubenstein, Princeton University; Jack Snyder, Columbia University; Janice Gross Stein, University of Toronto; Thomas G. Weiss, CUNY Graduate Center
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Edition: 2nd edition
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 14 Mar 2008
ISBN 10: 0801473012
ISBN 13: 9780801473012
This is a superb survey of the rise and challenges of international humanitarianism assistance. The book chronicles the remarkable post-Cold War emergence of a global system of humanitarian relief-a system complete with doctrines, organizations, and extensive field operations. But it is also a system under stress, working increasingly with little guidance or support in war-torn societies . . . . The authors in this collection step back from these developments to ask first-order questions about the purposes and principles of humanitarianism. . . . This book will long be an essential guide to the theory and politics of global humanitarianism. -G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs
By providing sharp analyses of most of the criticial issues facing humanitarian agencies today, Humanitarianism in Question will force such organizations to think beyond the confines of their business. This book will be obligatory reading for courses on emergencies and on humanitarian action and has much to offer readers interested in the shape of modern warfare, those who study the politics of globalization, and those who are concerned with terrorism. -Peter Walker, Rosenberg Professor of Nutrition and Human Security and Director of the Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
This exciting and much-needed book comes at the right time and will help set an important agenda in the study-and conduct-of humanitarian efforts. The editors make a wide-ranging case that humanitarianism has come of age as an area of study in its own right akin to the subfields such as strategic studies or political economy, and the contributors substantiate this with thoughtful consideration of the implications and dilemmas of humanitarianism in its myriad forms. -Richard Price, University of British Columbia, author of The Chemical Weapons Taboo