Negotiating Relief: The Dialectics of Humanitarian Space [Paperback]

Draws on examples such as the Haitian earthquake, the Tsunami, Somalia and Kosovo to examine the complexity of humanitarian diplomacy.While humanitarianism is unquestionably a fast-growing subject of practitioner and scholarly engagement, much discussion about it is predicated on a dangerous dichotomy between aid givers and relief takers that largely misrepresents the negotiated nature of the humanitarian enterprise. To highlight the tension between these relationships, this book focuses on the humanitarian spaces and the dynamics of humanitarian diplomacy (both local and global) that sustain them. It gathers key voices to provide a critical analysis of international theory, geopolitics and dilemmas underpinning the negotiation of relief.Offering recent examples from cases such as Kosovo and the Tsunami, or ongoing crises like Haiti, Libya, Darfur and Somalia, the contributors analyze the complexity of humanitarian diplomacy and the multiplicity of geographies and actors involved in it. By investigating the transformations that both diplomacy and humanitarianism are undergoing, the authors prompt us towards a critical and eclectic understanding of the dialectics of humanitarian space. Negotiating Relief aims to present humanitarianism not only as a relief delivery mechanism but also as a phenomenon in dialogue with both localized crises and global politics.Editor's acknowledgementsPreface: The politics of humanitarian spaceThomas G. WeissIntroduction: Humanitarian puzzlesMichele AcutoPART I. Questioning humanitarian spaces1: Is humanitarian space shrinking?Don Hubert and Cynthia Brassard-Boudreau2: The humanitarian system: how does it affect humanitarian space?Sarah Collinson3: Humanitarianism, perceptions and powerAntonio Donini4: Imaging catastrophe: the politics of representing humanitarian crisesRoland Bleiker, Emma Hutchinson and David CampbellPART II. Six spaces for humanitarian politics5: Humanitarian space in Darfur: caught between the local and the lÓ