September Flashcards
We need a paradigm shift from what to what?
From a culture of crisis management to risk management
What is the WHY of humanitarianism
Disasters
What is a disaster?
A situation involving a natural hazard which
has consequences in terms of damage,
livelihoods/economic disruption and/or
casualties that are too great for the affected
area and people to deal with properly on their
own
What is vulnerability?
The degree to which one’s social status influences differential impact by natural hazards and the social processes which led there and maintained that status. It depends on the individual and society depending on context. A farmer in the middle of nowhere is more affected by a drought then he is a virus.
What is disaster risk?
hazard x vulnerability
What is livelihood?
All resources required to sustain durably people’s basic need. Basic needs refer to food, shelter, clothing, cultural values and social relationships. There are structural constraints to how much this can be protected
What is this formula? DR = H x [V/C - M]? What do the letters mean?
DR = disaster risk
H = hazards
V = vulnerability
C = capacity to cope
M = mitigation
The purpose of the formula is not to do any actual calculations but instead demonstrate how capacity can reduce vulnerability
What is capacity?
The resources and assets that people possess to resist, cope, with and
recover from disaster shocks they experience, including the ability to either use or access needed resources
What is humanitarianism?
The impartial, neutral, and independent provision of relief to victims of conflict and natural disasters
or / and
An expression of the universal value of solidarity between people
What are the three principles of classical humanitarianism?
Impartiality, neutrality, and independence
Cliff notes on the1990s and how the end of the cold war affected humanitarianism
1990s end of cold war. The bipolar (one side US other side USSR) system shuts down and the soviets fall.
A unipolar world begins to spread as liberal democracy spreads via US interventions. The USSR’s veto power is gone and state actors can do what ever really (aka the US)
Interstate war or war between countries turns into -> intrastate war or war within a country
More complex humanitarian emergencies
Massive technological advancements begin
Boom in the humanitarian industry;
Including a swell of official assistance and private donations
Mandate expansion occur as organizations no longer just want to help out, they want to work on root causes like the political side
Organizations that used to work on the politics now want to work on the issues
With the shift from classical to resilience paradigms after the cold war, what effect did this have on the humanitarian system?
Shifts occurred in how crisis, aid, and the role of aid providers would occur
There was less urgency for aid and put too much faith in local communities’ capacities to cope with crisis - therefore undermining the need for NGOs to assist
How has / was humanitarian systems become instruments for states to use as a foreign policy tool in the post 1990s - 2000s?
Evidence includes issues like the creation of humanitarian units by governments. Governments take on the challenge instead of apolitical groups or business.
They also begin in the 1990s to use armed support for some sides. Creation a cashflow.
2000s; the responsibility to protect doctrine comes out. It is in response to the absolute failures of the 1990s to protect peoples. It changes the way we view sovereignty and is linked to the state’s ability to prevent conflict. If they are unable to protect their citizens then the international community entering and being responsible to act occurs.
Armed humanitarianism begins to evolve and materialize
Humanitarian orgs are now in reconstruction, human rights, democracy promotion, and peacebuilding
The flagship example of this was the reconstruction team in Afghanistan and Iraq. Humanitarianism becomes a huge part of peace building and spreading state views.
What is the world order?
An organized state of existence and an international set of
arrangements for preserving global political stability. Patterned international activity that preserves and sustains the goals of a society of states including preservation of the system itself
What is the international society?
A group of states, conscious of certain common interests and common values bound by a common set of rules in their relations with one another and which share in the working of common institutions
What are the two core norms of the humanitarian system?
Sovereignty: states have independence from each other
&
Non-interventionalist: states have a right to their own order within their state without intervention
Explain the current state of the humanitarian system and its possible future
Presently: a diffusion of power. Not just held by states anymore but actively by various groups. There is a loss of faith in the liberal international organizations like the UN & WHO
Future: possibility multipolarity where states are fighting and cooperating internationally to advance their own goals. Or possibly civil society working together to govern a global world
What is government vs governance?
Government: an actor that is able to set rules and ideally has the means to enforce it through formal authority and hierarchy. There is assumably a static formal structure
Governance: the more pluralistic, conflictive process of norm negotiation and norm enforcement
What is a norm?
Norm: an ambigous ‘normal’ belief consensus behavior etc that exists
What is global governance?
Global governance: the collective problem solving arrangements that include state organizations, state organizations, and more. it does not properly exist really
What was the structure of the international humanitarian system referred to as?
A weakly institutionalized system with an increasing number of actors
What are the three elements of a state?
Territory, population, and power
What did Max Weber argue?
Argued that a state as the legitimate monopoly over physical violence within a territory. The state is focused on physical safety and material well being
What did John Lock and Thomas Hobbes argue?
Social contract theory. State is empowered by a social contract with the people. There is a security in exchange for freedom. Locke believed that the state of nature is reason and tolerance. Hobbes believed the state of nature is war and competition. This is why a state needs a strong sovereign leader to push back against that. However the leader was held true by the social contract
