January 2002 Insights Issue #39

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Politics vs aid?

Aid and politics have always been connected. During the Cold War, for example, investment flows, development efforts and humanitarian assistance tended to reflect the changing pattern of superpower alliance and competition. Aid agencies were caught up in the dynamics of this situation. Since the Biafran civil war (1967-69), NGOs and humanitarian agencies have addressed this dilemma by asserting their neutrality and impartiality in the face of partisan interests pressing around them.More...

Other articles in this issue:

Politics vs aid: is coherence the answer?
Humanitarian action has always been highly political. The provision of humanitarian assistance and protection has relied upon engaging with political authorities in conflict-affected countries and has thus influenced the political economy of war. At the same time, the provision of humanitarian assistance has always been influenced by the domestic public policy interests of donor countries. The issue is not whether humanitarian aid is politicised, but how.

Networking for peace?
Traditionally, in times of peace at least, international politics was conducted by diplomats; the boundary between diplomacy and intelligence was, and still is, vague. With economic growth and democratisation in the west, the increasing importance of issues such as human rights and development have helped broaden the conduct of international relations by the professional diplomat to include a wider range of actors: non-diplomatic civil servants, non-state lobby groups, aid groups and so on.

Peace from below?
Building peace from below, an objective of international NGOs working in conflict zones, recognises 'local ownership' as essential for breaking cycles of violence. Political settlements on a 'first-track' official level cannot hold unless broad-based constituencies have the means and resilience to rebuild trust and infrastructure.

Women building peace
Children, the elderly, and women in particular suffer the most from armed conflict. Rape, detention, and forced displacement are amongst the human rights abuses that women often endure. Yet, during post-conflict recovery women’s experiences and perspectives are often ignored. How can a gender perspective be included in policy and programming, asks International Alert?

Hearts and minds? Defining civil-military links globally
Since the end of the Cold War there has been a growing debate on civil-military cooperation (CIMIC). Mutual support and interaction between civilian and military actors, the importance of CIMIC in modern Peace Support Operations is now widely recognised.

Reclaiming humanitarianism? The necessity of accountability
An uneasy relationship exists between aid and politics - in particular the politicisation and militarisation of humanitarian aid. Its most extreme form is the characterisation of military action as humanitarian as in NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999. Others include the blurring between military and humanitarian operations, the selective funding of humanitarian crises, or the use of humanitarian assistance as a conflict management tool.

Sites for sore eyes
Further web resources.

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