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Aid in Danger : The Perils and Promise of Humanitarianism / Larissa Fast.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Pennsylvania Studies in Human RightsPublisher: Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2014]Copyright date: ©2014Description: 1 online resource (336 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780812246032
  • 9780812209631
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 361.2/6 23
LOC classification:
  • HV553 .F3717 2014
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Three Stories of Aid in Danger: From Baghdad and Muttur to Solferino -- Chapter 2. The Twin Challenges for Contemporary Humanitarianism -- Chapter 3. The Dangers They Face: Understanding Violence Against Aid Workers and Agencies -- Chapter 4. The Dominant Explanations: Competing Discourses of Aid -- Chapter 5. Explanations in the Shadows: Competing Images of Aid -- Chapter 6. Coping with Danger: Paradigms of Humanitarian Security Management -- Conclusion. Reclaiming Humanity -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Acknowledgments
Summary: Humanitarian aid workers increasingly remain present in contexts of violence and are injured, kidnapped, and killed as a result. Since 9/11 and in response to these dangers, aid organizations have fortified themselves to shield their staff and programs from outside threats. In Aid in Danger, Larissa Fast critically examines the causes of violence against aid workers and the consequences of the approaches aid agencies use to protect themselves from attack.Based on more than a decade of research, Aid in Danger explores the assumptions underpinning existing explanations of and responses to violence against aid workers. According to Fast, most explanations of attacks locate the causes externally and maintain an image of aid workers as an exceptional category of civilians. The resulting approaches to security rely on separation and fortification and alienate aid workers from those in need, representing both a symptom and a cause of crisis in the humanitarian system. Missing from most analyses are the internal vulnerabilities, exemplified in the everyday decisions and ordinary human frailties and organizational mistakes that sometimes contribute to the conditions leading to violence. This oversight contributes to the normalization of danger in aid work and undermines the humanitarian ethos. As an alternative, Fast proposes a relational framework that captures both external threats and internal vulnerabilities. By uncovering overlooked causes of violence, Aid in Danger offers a unique perspective on the challenges of providing aid in perilous settings and on the prospects of reforming the system in service of core humanitarian values.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780812209631

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Three Stories of Aid in Danger: From Baghdad and Muttur to Solferino -- Chapter 2. The Twin Challenges for Contemporary Humanitarianism -- Chapter 3. The Dangers They Face: Understanding Violence Against Aid Workers and Agencies -- Chapter 4. The Dominant Explanations: Competing Discourses of Aid -- Chapter 5. Explanations in the Shadows: Competing Images of Aid -- Chapter 6. Coping with Danger: Paradigms of Humanitarian Security Management -- Conclusion. Reclaiming Humanity -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Acknowledgments

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Humanitarian aid workers increasingly remain present in contexts of violence and are injured, kidnapped, and killed as a result. Since 9/11 and in response to these dangers, aid organizations have fortified themselves to shield their staff and programs from outside threats. In Aid in Danger, Larissa Fast critically examines the causes of violence against aid workers and the consequences of the approaches aid agencies use to protect themselves from attack.Based on more than a decade of research, Aid in Danger explores the assumptions underpinning existing explanations of and responses to violence against aid workers. According to Fast, most explanations of attacks locate the causes externally and maintain an image of aid workers as an exceptional category of civilians. The resulting approaches to security rely on separation and fortification and alienate aid workers from those in need, representing both a symptom and a cause of crisis in the humanitarian system. Missing from most analyses are the internal vulnerabilities, exemplified in the everyday decisions and ordinary human frailties and organizational mistakes that sometimes contribute to the conditions leading to violence. This oversight contributes to the normalization of danger in aid work and undermines the humanitarian ethos. As an alternative, Fast proposes a relational framework that captures both external threats and internal vulnerabilities. By uncovering overlooked causes of violence, Aid in Danger offers a unique perspective on the challenges of providing aid in perilous settings and on the prospects of reforming the system in service of core humanitarian values.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)