The New Politics of Protecting Humanitarian Space: A Private Security Revolution in Humanitarian Affairs?
Item
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Title
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The New Politics of Protecting Humanitarian Space: A Private Security Revolution in Humanitarian Affairs?
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:4233a60ed1b3:11319
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identifier
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11667
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Creator
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Hoffman, Peter J.,
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Contributor
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Thomas G. Weiss
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Date
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2012
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Political science | International relations | humanitarian agency | humanitarian space | new wars | norms | private security | revolution in humanitarian affairs
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Abstract
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Over the past twenty years humanitarian agencies are increasingly encountering security problems in delivering assistance to victims of armed conflict, and consequently they have searched for new security solutions that protect humanitarian space. The usual methods of gaining access to distressed populations and creating a safe area in which aid is provided---invoking obligations under international humanitarian law; adhering to neutrality, impartiality and independence; and, seeking the consent of states that host crises---has frequently failed, thereby pushing agencies to consider of unconventional approaches that deviate from traditions of "humanitarian culture" that crystallized in the late 19 th century. One direction these alternative security tactics may pursue is to scale back operations or simply operate more discreetly, such as lowering the profile of humanitarian agencies, relying exclusively on locals to carry out relief work, or even withdrawal. However, other unorthodox approaches seek the use of force to set up and secure humanitarian space. Despite humanitarians' core value of operational independence, acting in conjunction with the armed forces of states or international organizations is one possibility. Humanitarian agencies, however, have also employed private security contractors to achieve humanitarian outcomes. But working with for-profit armed actors raises profound issues of the means and ends of humanitarian action. This study asks, why and how have humanitarian agencies come to view hired guns as morally palatable agents for protecting humanitarian space? It examines how the norm of security contractor usage by humanitarian agencies that arose since the start of the 1990s are the result of the influences of politics (an ideology of a maximalized version of humanitarianism that addresses the root causes of crises and a willingness to work with actors with an avowed political interest), force (conjoining humanitarian operations to military ones and looking to security tools to protect aid work), markets (competition within the humanitarian sector for funding and the incorporation of for-profit actors into humanitarian activities), this study takes up the issue of change to inquire whether the spread and formal acknowledgement of this practice constitutes a "revolution in humanitarian affairs.".
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Political Science
