Humanitarian Challenges and Intervention: World Politics and the Dilemmas of Help

Dilemmas in World Politics

by Thomas G. Weiss, Cindy Collins

There are two distinct contemporary challenges to the relief of war-induced human one that occurs within the institutions that make up the international humanitarian system, the other in war zones. Varied interests, resources, and organizational structures within institutions hamper the efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian operations. At the same time—on the ground—ethical, legal, and operational challenges and dilemmas continually arise that require humanitarian actors to choose a course of action with associated necessary evils. Humanitarian Challenges and Intervention shows how institutional concerns—combined with the domestic context of armed conflicts—often yield policies that do not serve the immediate requirements of victims for relief, stabilization, and community reconstruction. Based on case studies of the post–Cold War experience in Central America, northern Iraq, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda, the authors make recommendations for a more effective and efficient humanitarian system.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Thomas G. Weiss is Presidential Professor of Political Science at The CUNY Graduate Center and Director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, where he is co-director of the UN Intellectual History Project. He is President (2009-10) of the International Studies Association, chair (2006-9) of the Academic Council on the UN System (ACUNS). His latest book is What's Wrong with the United Nations and How to Fix It (2009).

As Research Professor at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies (1990-98), he also held university administrative posts (Associate Dean of the Faculty, Director of the Global Security Program, Associate Director), was the Executive Director of ACUNS, and co-directed the Humanitarianism and War Project. Earlier, he was the Executive Director of the International Peace Academy (1985-9); a Senior Economic Affairs Officer at the UN Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva (1975-85); and held professional posts in the Office of the UN Commissioner for Namibia, the University Program at the Institute for World Order, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and International Labor Organization. He has been a consultant for foundations and numerous inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations and was editor of Global Governance (2000-5) and research director of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (2000-2).