October 17, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Humanitarian Enterprise: Dilemmas & Discoveries
by Larry Minear
The 1990s brought a new and “often . . . perilous landscape” for humanitarian action, writes Larry Minear, director of the Humanitarianism and War Project at Tufts University, in Medford, Mass. Post–Cold War crises including the Persian Gulf War, the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, and genocide in Rwanda were followed by an ever-increasing influx of humanitarian and emergency-relief organizations to those hot spots, operating in environments that were politically unstable—and frequently dangerous.
Mr. Minear analyzes data on major challenges to delivering aid faced by charities, as well as by the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations and government agencies.
He covers major issues those groups face, such as coordinating the work of humanitarian organizations, and dealing with outside political and military forces. Among the questions they grapple with: whether humanitarian action should be isolated from political agendas.
“Perhaps the most overarching reality is that political, diplomatic, and military institutions have a significant bearing on the success of the humanitarian enterprise, even though humanitarian interests themselves have at best limited influence on them,” Mr. Minear writes.
Mr. Minear suggests several areas of improvement for humanitarian groups. He says organizations need to find a better way to cooordinate their efforts, to negotiate effectively with hostile political authorities, and to plan strategic responses to volatile situations. One solution he offers is putting a humanitarian coordinator in charge of managing relationships with political authorities.
The book also includes an epilogue about how the September 11 terrorist attacks and the conflict in Afghanistan have affected humanitarian aid.
Publisher: Kumarian Press, 1294 Blue Hills Avenue, Bloomfield, Conn. 06002; (800) 289-2664; fax (860) 243-2867; kpbooks@aol.com; http://www.kpbooks.com; 288 pages; $25.95; I.S.B.N. 1-56549-149-1.
