IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/wzbipo/p01306.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Humanitarianism and peace: On the (im-)possible inclusion of humanitarian assistance into peacebuilding efforts

Author

Listed:
  • Schloms, Michael

Abstract

The nature of intra-state conflicts and the political manipulation of humanitarian aid in the 1990s has led to the popular postulate that humanitarianism has to be included as an instrument for peacebuilding efforts. So far, the debate surrounding such a linkage has largely ignored the nature and behaviour of aid agencies. This paper focuses on the feasibility of including humanitarian action into peacebuilding strategies by taking a closer look at the reality of humanitarian organisations. Based upon the concept of peacebuilding, three sets of prerequisites for successfully combining humanitarian and peacebuilding efforts will be discussed: the compatibility of the objectives pursued in humanitarianism and peacebuilding, the perception of politics by aid agencies, and their capacity to analyse the political context of aid. The analysis highlights the heterogeneity of humanitarian actors and concludes that their contribution to peacebuilding can only be very limited.

Suggested Citation

  • Schloms, Michael, 2001. "Humanitarianism and peace: On the (im-)possible inclusion of humanitarian assistance into peacebuilding efforts," Discussion Papers, Research Group International Politics P 01-306, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbipo:p01306
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/49852/1/339880902.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johan Galtung, 1985. "Twenty-Five Years of Peace Research: Ten Challenges and Some Responses," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 22(2), pages 141-158, June.
    2. Berthoin Antal, Ariane & Dierkes, Meinolf, 2000. "Organizational learning: Where do we stand? Where do we want to go?," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Organisation and Technology FS II 00-105, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    3. Hartzell, Caroline & Hoddie, Matthew & Rothchild, Donald, 2001. "Stabilizing the Peace After Civil War: An Investigation of Some Key Variables," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(1), pages 183-208, January.
    4. Eberwein, Wolf-Dieter, 1997. "Die Politik humanitärer Hilfe: Im Spannungsfeld von Macht und Moral," Discussion Papers, Research Group International Politics P 97-301, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jiwon Lee, 2016. "Settlements in the Civil Wars of Myanmar and Sri Lanka: The Success, Failure and Deception of the Peace Process," Millennial Asia, , vol. 7(1), pages 63-76, April.
    2. Michael C. Marshall, 2019. "Foreign Rebel Sponsorship: A Patron–Client Analysis of Party Viability in Elections Following Negotiated Settlements," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(2), pages 555-584, February.
    3. Reeves, Aaron & Sochas, Laura, 2022. "When do democratic transitions reduce or increase child mortality? Exploring the role of non-violent resistance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    4. Matthew Fuhrmann & Jaroslav Tir, 2009. "Territorial Dimensions of Enduring Internal Rivalries," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 26(4), pages 307-329, September.
    5. Bronner, Uta, 1999. "Helfer in humanitären Projekten: Strategien und Probleme der Personalplanung," Discussion Papers, Research Group International Politics P 99-305, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    6. Zorzeta Bakaki, 2020. "The Joint Effect of International and Domestic-Level State Capacity on Civil War Risk," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-14, May.
    7. Moyersoen Johan, 2004. "Psychology's Prospect Theory: Relevance for Identifying Positions of Local Satiation as Robust Reference Points of Joint Actions in Peace Agreements," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-25, January.
    8. Eberwein, Wolf-Dieter, 2001. "Realism or idealism, or both? Security policy and humanitarianism," Discussion Papers, Research Group International Politics P 01-307, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    9. Levin Jamie & Miodownik Dan, 2016. "The Imperative to Explore the Impact of Disarmament on Peacemaking Efforts and Conflict Recurrence," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 22(4), pages 347-356, December.
    10. Paul F. Diehl, 2006. "Just a Phase?: Integrating Conflict Dynamics Over Time," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 23(3), pages 199-210, July.
    11. Fiedler, Charlotte, 2015. "Towers of strength in turbulent times? Assessing the effectiveness of international support to peace and democracy in Kenya and Kyrgyzstan in the aftermath of interethnic violence," IDOS Discussion Papers 6/2015, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    12. Karl Derouen JR & Jenna Lea & Peter Wallensteen, 2009. "The Duration of Civil War Peace Agreements," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 26(4), pages 367-387, September.
    13. Ji Yeon Hong & Woo Chang Kang, 2017. "Trauma and stigma: The long-term effects of wartime violence on political attitudes," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 34(3), pages 264-286, May.
    14. Alyssa K Prorok & Deniz Cil, 2022. "Cheap talk or costly commitment? Leader statements and the implementation of civil war peace agreements," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 59(3), pages 409-424, May.
    15. David Quinn & Jonathan Wilkenfeld & Pelin Eralp & Victor Asal & Theodore Mclauchlin, 2013. "Crisis managers but not conflict resolvers: Mediating ethnic intrastate conflict in Africa," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 30(4), pages 387-406, September.
    16. Wukki Kim & Todd Sandler & Hirofumi Shimizu, 2020. "A Multi‐Transition Approach to Evaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(4), pages 543-567, November.
    17. Strasheim, Julia, 2017. "The Politics of Institutional Reform and Post-Conflict Violence in Nepal," GIGA Working Papers 296, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    18. Srobana Bhattacharya & Courtney Burns, 2019. "What’s War Got to Do with It? Post-conflict Effects on Gender Equality in South and Southeast Asia, 1975–2006," Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, , vol. 6(1), pages 55-81, April.
    19. Christopher Farrington, 2006. "Non-Violent Opposition to Peace Processes: Northern Ireland's Serial Spoilers," Working Papers 200605, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    20. Wong P-H., 2014. "How can political trust be built after civil wars? : lessons from post-conflict Sierra Leone," MERIT Working Papers 2014-083, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbipo:p01306. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wzbbbde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.