ERIC ED392696: Humanitarian Politics. Headline Series No. 304.

77 Pages·1995·1.2 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUm.i:
SO 025 855
ED 392 696
Minear, Larry; Weiss, Thomas G.
AUTHOR
Humanitarian Politics. Headline Series No. 304.
TITLE
Foreign Policy Association, New York, N.Y.
INSTITUTION
ISBN-0-87124-162-5; ISSN-0017-8780
REPORT NO
PUB DATE
95
NOTE
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*Altruism; Conflict; *Cooperation; Foreign Countries;
DESCRIPTORS
*Foreign Policy; *Humanitarianism; *Human Relations;
*International Relations; Peace; Political Attitudes;
Political Science; Secondary Education; *Social
Action; Social Responsibility; Social Studies; Social
Values; War; World Affairs
ABSTRACT
This booklet examines the issue of humanitarian aid
in times of cri-es and how the political and military conditions that
generate the need for humanitarian action have changed in the
post-cold-war era. There are different faces of civil war, changes in
international assistance, and complex emergencies that demand new
world responses to help those caught in need. Political realities
must be taken into account as the human-needs agenda is addressed.
The book has five chapters. Chapter 1, "Humanitarianism and
Politics," examines prevailing understandings of humanitarianism and
politics. Chapter 2, "Humanitarian and Political Actors," outlines
the major actors in today's crises. Chapter 3, "Getting the
Relationship Right," provides examples of different ways of
responding to these crises. Chapter 4, "Looking to the Future,"
suggests changes in approach in response to crises. Chapter 5,
"Implic,tions for U.S. Policy," presents challenges to U.S. policy.
The book concludes that humanitarian action needs to be clearer about
its possibilities and limitations while politics needs to be infused
with humanitarian dimensions. The volume includes an annotated
reading list and a set of discussion questions for classroom use.
(EH)
***********************************************************************
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
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HEADLINE SERIES
Fall
FOREIGN POLICY ASSOCIATION
No. 304
Humanitarian Polities
by Larry Minear and Thomas G. Weiss
Introduction
Humanitarianism and Politics
1 7
1
20
Humanitarian and Political Actors
2
32
Getting the Relationship Right
3
I moking to the Future
5 7
4
63
Implications for I 1.S. Policy
5
; I
Ie to Abbreviations
69
Talking It 01er
70
\nnotated Reading I ,ist
S5.95
I )eILII:
tI 11(111on
o.
:
.1
The Authors
\Rio \II\ 1., \It has \\ orked on humanitarian and de el
omen( issues since 1972, both as an official of( :hurch
\Vorld Ser\ ice and Lutheran \Vorld Relief and as a con-
sultant to I.\ tinzanitations and the IS. go\ eminent.
I le currentl \ codirects the I hmunitarianisin iiid \\*ar
Project at Bros\ n tuiiersits I'homas J. Watson jr.
Inctitme fur International Studies.
direcwr
Brown
if
Jr. Institute fur Inter-
national Studies and e \ectiti \ e director of the .\ca-
-4
demic Council on the I \
stern. He has also held
I N pusts, sq.:Red as e \ecuti e director of the
se \ ci il
International Peace \catkin\ and \\ mien e \telisk cly
about peacekcepin!,, humanitarian relief and interna-
tional organi/ations.
Their recent joint publications include Ilionanitahan laion
iii
War I Handbook lor P,/, /ifi'mi/'
t Rienner, 1993),
/aria/11.'7n .1dos, Bordo:5:.Vii.gainiii.:.:Ciz7lian' in Film.' of War Rienner,
ni and iii, Global Ilionanitarian
I go.; and .1/, t,
1 'nth., /../n :
(\\ est \ le
I (495
.
The Foreign Polic Association
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Hue
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Fall 1993. Published .1.pril 1995.
I ihrar of ( :iingress (
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silsulng ( :ord
ISBN 0-87124-162-5
[
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;
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I 111111
r,
Introduction
crises. each nf monumental
As I t. \ In \ s I RI \\I of humanitarian
assaulted the
and headline-capturing, prnpnrtions, has
\\ orld's senses in the last fe11 \ e;irs:
In the spring of 1991. Inllnw inn.; the Persian Gidr ar. the
annrthern
plight nf 1.5 millinn kuids in the snnw \ innuntains
Iraq dmnina red the new s.
Beginning in late 19q1. the carnage. ethnic cleansing, s\ s-
accumpanying
teinatic rape and lnrced IlltAement (nl pennies
\ lore
the dissnlutinn ()I Vugusla \ ja recek ed Inapt. cnverage.
nf interna-
than 4 millinn pen* w etc displaced and inn need
tinnal assistance fur daily sun.' i al.
Starting in mid- PM2, famine resulting from Snmalia's
with some
internecine \\ atlare cnnunanded w ()rid attentinn,
elnpment set hack
half-million li \ es Inst and the tuuntn \ 's de \
Inr decades.
I motith
,uppm/ lur dtatou:..1111,/,,k11,111111,
I /I,
3
In 1993-94, the distress of I laitiansficeing in rickety
ships from grinding poverty and major human-rights abuses in
a country whose elected president was in exileloomed large.
In 1994, unthinkable butchery and massive displacement
of Rwandans staggered belief. Half of the population of
Rwanda was uprooted, with an estimated 500,000 to one mil-
lion lives lost.
People in the United States remember not only the intense
suffering of civilians caught in the crossfire and dramatized in
the media. 'they also remember the t *.S. responsesometimes
timely, sometimes not; sometimes successful, sometimes not
to the plight of the needy. Etched indelibly in the national
memory is the American-led operation to air-drop supplies to
the Kurds and return them to their homes; the I.
effort to
reach people in Sarajevo and eastern Bosnia-I Ierzegovina (in
the landing of U.S.
the former Yugoslavia);
troops
in
Mogadishu, Somalia, to protect aid operations; efforts to assist
and protect people within I laiti and to rescue them on the high
seas; and initiatives by humanitarian agencies and soldiers to
assist injured and dying Rwandans.
Some of the images of rescues and rescuers evoke less posi-
tive feelings; the bodies of American soldiers being dragged
through the streets of Mogadishu and one who survived being
interrogated; the towering U.S. cargo ship
ap-
Harlan County
proaching Port-au-Prince, I laiti, and then retreating at the sight
of armed thugs on the docks; the genocide in
Bosnia-
! lerzegovina and in Rwanda, with Canadian peacekeepers
un-
der fire in the eastern enclaves of Bosnia-I lerzegovina and the
bodies of Belgian peacekeepers dismembered in
Kigali,
anda's capital.
Other less-publicized recent tragediesin Mozambique,
Afghanistan, Sudan, Burundi, Liberia, Akanmar and East
l'imor have also taken an enormous toll. In short, the decade
of the 1990s is one of cataclysmic need that has sorely tested
the strength of the global safety net.
What has changed in the early post-cold-war era is not the
nature of the humanitarian enterprise. 1k perate people still
4
fun-
protection from abuse of their
require relief supplies and
political and
What has changed are the
damental human rights.
the need for humanitarian
military conditions that generate
action.
humanitar-
Virtually all of the recent
Wars are different now.
between states
of armed conflicts not
ian crises are the result
of the world's
Leger Sivard, chronicler
but within states. Ruth
Social
in World Military and
annual military spending, reports
more
of the 29 conflicts claiming
Expenditum 1993 that each
6 and
1992 were civil wars (see pages
than a thousand lives in
humanitarian
situations mentioned,
7). In the most trying
violent conflict within coun-
action took place in response to
that borders
of such wars has been
tries. One underlying cause
of
the result of the breakup
established in colonial days or as
tribal and
take into account ethnic,
empires do not adequately
religious factors.
War
Different Face of Civil
freewheeling than wars
Internal armed conflicts are more
protagonists,
involve clearly identified
between nations that
national authorities
rules. In civil wars,
battle lines and ground
equipped with
by one or more insurgent groups,
are challenged
wreak havoc but not power-
high-powered enough to
weapons
skills of the most
victory. l'he mediation
ful enough to secure
be
Afghanistan are likely to
elder in Somalia or
sage tribal
twelve-year-old.
in the hands of a
outmatched by an AK-47
insurgent,
wielderswhether government or
Many weapon
thugshave
paramilitary, or simply
organized military or ragtag
with applicable in-
accountability, familiarity
little discipline,
solutions.
stake in negotiated
ternational law, or a perceived
capitals such
reached in negotiating
Even when agreements are
Switzerland, there is little guar-
City and Geneva,
as New York
subclans will
ithin insurgent groups or
dissidents
antee that
Ns
traditional restraints
Moreover, unchecked by
respect them.
professional
normally characterizes
and the discipline that
using
and more prone to
armies, today's belligerents arc more
civilian populations them-
humanitarian assistance, and even
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