Condemned to Repeat?: The Paradox of Humanitarian Action

Terry has written a compelling book about the failure of international humanitarian organizations to take into consideration a wider political context before providing aid. . . . In clear and concise analysis, she begins with the controversial claim that the aid agencies respond in knee-jerk fashion to any conflict without further investigating or even considering the ramifications of their aid. -Library Journal

Noting that governments have various nonhumanitarian policies that are manifested in dealing with refugee flows, including allowing refugee camps to be used for military purposes, Terry concludes that aid agencies must necessarily contribute to these governmental maneuvers. . . . She concludes that the best aid agencies can do in the real world of governmental realpolitik is to try to minimize undesirable political impact that inheres in humanitarian assistance. -Choice

An insider's searching critique of the humanitarian aid system. . . . The result, Terry concludes, is a deep paradox at the heart of humanitarian action: The international community's good intentions have created structures of aid and protection that, when injected into disintegrating states without authoritative rule, often fuel violence rather than reduce suffering. -G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

The book makes a valuable contribution to the burgeoning literature on humanitarian action. The historical research is detailed, the arguments are cogent and precise, and Terry's findings are alarmingly relevant . . . . Although the book is an appeal to relief agencies to enter into emergency situations with more caution and greater awareness of the ramifications of their actions, the study would certainly serve as a valuable pedagogical tool for graduate courses. It is also accessible to undergraduates and a general adult reading audience. -Eric A. Heinze, Perspectives on Political Science

This is a provocative, analytical treatment of the inevitable dilemmas that arise when humanitarian action is undertaken in a militarized environment. Fiona Terry writes with the authority that comes from several years of working in emergency relief programs in different parts of the world. The book's main contribution is its identification, discussion, and analysis of the predictable negative consequences of humanitarian intervention. -David L. Cingranelli, Perspectives on Politics

Fiona Terry's Condemned to Repeat? is a tough-minded and searching critique of the global aid industry. Aid agencies and humanitarian activists who do not think hard about Terry's critique may find themselves condemned to repeat the mistakes she identifies. -Michael Ignatieff, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

There have been many books criticizing humanitarian action from the outside and many others praising it from the inside. Almost always, both the moral and operational dilemmas of relief work were terribly oversimplified. Fiona Terry has changed all that. Hers is the first book by an aid worker from the English-speaking world to anatomize the real paradoxes of humanitarian action. It is at once a superb and original work of historical research into the actual practice of contemporary humanitarianism, an arresting polemic about what the consequences of those practices are, and a fine piece of moral reasoning. -David Rieff

Unlike others who have seen the underbelly of the aid business, Fiona Terry responds, not with cynicism or fatalism, but with morally sensitive, politically relevant, and intellectually lucid proposals about how to bring actual consequences closer to good intentions. Condemned to Repeat? is a passionate and independent challenge to humanitarian practice-as-usual that can enrich ethics classes and guide refugee camps. It is a book of extraordinary reach that contributes richly to both theory and practice. -Henry Shue, author of Basic Rights