Humanitarian Crises, Intervention and Security

This book presents a new framework of analysis to assess the antecedents, process and consequences of natural and man-made disasters and humanitarian crises, and the feasibility of their respective interventions.

The past half-century has witnessed a dramatic increase in man-made and natural disasters and emergencies, as well as protracted crises; Sudan (Darfur), Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo, Chad and Palestine are only a few examples. Societies react to these crises with humanitarian action and development aid; meanwhile, there is a plethora of organizations in the humanitarian field: NGOs, INGOs, state organizations and private firms whose purpose it is to prevent or mitigate the effects of such crises. At present, the efforts of organizational practitioners and educational programs have generated many useful insights. This book aims to develop a theory-based, interdisciplinary framework that can assist the sector in acquiring the skills and expertise necessary for evidence-based decision-making and programming in humanitarian action.

This book has four major objectives:

1. Providing a tool for diagnosing and understanding complex emergencies; building on the concepts of state security and human security and by going beyond these concepts leading to a "Snap-Shot Analysis" of the status quo;
2. Providing a tool for analysing causes of crises as well as the related stakeholder field;
3. Providing a frame to structure and analyse the information required to evaluate, monitor and/or design interventions for different actors on project and/or programme level;
4. To combine concepts used in the humanitarian field with underlying theory in a practically relevant way.

The book encompasses the theories of security studies, anthropology and sociology with relevance for students and practitioners in the field of humanitarian and development studies and combines them with tools from management and aid assessment. The result is the first book in humanitarian studies to provide a framework for humanitarian programming grounded in current theory and practice.

The book will be of much interest to students of humanitarian intervention, human security, peacebuilding, development studies, peace studies and IR in general.