Aid in danger : the perils and promise of humanitarianism / Larissa Fast.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fast, Larisa, Author.

Series:

Pennsylvania studies in human rights.

Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Security, International.

Violence.

Risk management.

Humanitarian assistance.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (335 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Humanitarian aid workers increasingly remain present in contexts of violence and are injured, kidnapped, and killed as a result. Since 9/11 and in response to these dangers, aid organizations have fortified themselves to shield their staff and programs from outside threats. In Aid in Danger, Larissa Fast critically examines the causes of violence against aid workers and the consequences of the approaches aid agencies use to protect themselves from attack.Based on more than a decade of research, Aid in Danger explores the assumptions underpinning existing explanations of and responses to violence against aid workers. According to Fast, most explanations of attacks locate the causes externally and maintain an image of aid workers as an exceptional category of civilians. The resulting approaches to security rely on separation and fortification and alienate aid workers from those in need, representing both a symptom and a cause of crisis in the humanitarian system. Missing from most analyses are the internal vulnerabilities, exemplified in the everyday decisions and ordinary human frailties and organizational mistakes that sometimes contribute to the conditions leading to violence. This oversight contributes to the normalization of danger in aid work and undermines the humanitarian ethos. As an alternative, Fast proposes a relational framework that captures both external threats and internal vulnerabilities. By uncovering overlooked causes of violence, Aid in Danger offers a unique perspective on the challenges of providing aid in perilous settings and on the prospects of reforming the system in service of core humanitarian values.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. Three Stories of Aid in Danger: From Baghdad and Muttur to Solferino

Chapter 2. The Twin Challenges for Contemporary Humanitarianism

Chapter 3. The Dangers They Face: Understanding Violence Against Aid Workers and Agencies

Chapter 4. The Dominant Explanations: Competing Discourses of Aid

Chapter 5. Explanations in the Shadows: Competing Images of Aid

Chapter 6. Coping with Danger: Paradigms of Humanitarian Security Management

Conclusion. Reclaiming Humanity

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-304) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jun 2020)

ISBN:

9780812209631

081220963X

OCLC:

878130735