Five shades of grey: variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism

Humanitarianism is a contested concept. Should humanitarian action seek to address only the symptoms of crises, or also their causes? Can humanitarian agencies best achieve their goals through a commitment to neutrality, or should they take a self-consciously political approach? This paper argues th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Bradley, Miriam
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositorio:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/60117
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/60117
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/disa.12512
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Classical humanitarianism
New humanitarianism
ICRC
Neutrality
Humanitarian principles
Political humanitarianism
Consequentialism
Deontology
Speaking out
State sovereignty
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spelling Five shades of grey: variants of ‘political’ humanitarianismBradley, MiriamClassical humanitarianismNew humanitarianismICRCNeutralityHumanitarian principlesPolitical humanitarianismConsequentialismDeontologySpeaking outState sovereigntyHumanitarianism is a contested concept. Should humanitarian action seek to address only the symptoms of crises, or also their causes? Can humanitarian agencies best achieve their goals through a commitment to neutrality, or should they take a self-consciously political approach? This paper argues that debates about the desirability of more ambitious approaches to humanitarianism have been clouded by a lack of conceptual clarity. Showing that the perspective of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is not as apolitical as is often presented, and that so-called ‘political humanitarianism’ conflates four conceptually distinct ways of being political, the paper suggests that a black and white characterisation of approaches to humanitarianism as either political or apolitical is more accurately rendered as (at least) five shades of grey. Distinguishing the variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism matters, and the paper highlights how their conflation has marred normative debates on the desirability of different approaches.Wiley202420242022info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10230/60117http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/disa.12512reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPFinstname:Universitat Pompeu FabraInglésDisasters. 2022 Oc;46(4):1027-48This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bradley M. Five shades of grey: variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism. Disasters. 2022 Oc;46(4):1027-48. DOI: 10.1111/disa.12512, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/disa.12512. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/601172026-06-12T07:21:37Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Five shades of grey: variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism
title Five shades of grey: variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism
spellingShingle Five shades of grey: variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism
Bradley, Miriam
Classical humanitarianism
New humanitarianism
ICRC
Neutrality
Humanitarian principles
Political humanitarianism
Consequentialism
Deontology
Speaking out
State sovereignty
title_short Five shades of grey: variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism
title_full Five shades of grey: variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism
title_fullStr Five shades of grey: variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism
title_full_unstemmed Five shades of grey: variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism
title_sort Five shades of grey: variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Bradley, Miriam
author Bradley, Miriam
author_facet Bradley, Miriam
author_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Classical humanitarianism
New humanitarianism
ICRC
Neutrality
Humanitarian principles
Political humanitarianism
Consequentialism
Deontology
Speaking out
State sovereignty
topic Classical humanitarianism
New humanitarianism
ICRC
Neutrality
Humanitarian principles
Political humanitarianism
Consequentialism
Deontology
Speaking out
State sovereignty
description Humanitarianism is a contested concept. Should humanitarian action seek to address only the symptoms of crises, or also their causes? Can humanitarian agencies best achieve their goals through a commitment to neutrality, or should they take a self-consciously political approach? This paper argues that debates about the desirability of more ambitious approaches to humanitarianism have been clouded by a lack of conceptual clarity. Showing that the perspective of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is not as apolitical as is often presented, and that so-called ‘political humanitarianism’ conflates four conceptually distinct ways of being political, the paper suggests that a black and white characterisation of approaches to humanitarianism as either political or apolitical is more accurately rendered as (at least) five shades of grey. Distinguishing the variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism matters, and the paper highlights how their conflation has marred normative debates on the desirability of different approaches.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022
2024
2024
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10230/60117
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/disa.12512
url http://hdl.handle.net/10230/60117
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/disa.12512
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Disasters. 2022 Oc;46(4):1027-48
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
instname:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
instname_str Universitat Pompeu Fabra
reponame_str Repositorio Digital de la UPF
collection Repositorio Digital de la UPF
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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