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After three years of civil war in Syria, there is clear evidence that both the government and rebel groups have deliberately starved civilian populations 

Criticism of East Asia’s alleged self-interest-led development aid can also be applied to Western donors.

Norway’s recent international cooperation white paper, Sharing for Prosperity, seems stubbornly non-conformist. For it recommits Norway to some fundamental, if today unfashionable, purposes: for low-income lands, pursuit of growth-with-r…

The Broker, in cooperation with the OECD, invites you to contribute to this blog about the challenges of the coming HLF on aid effectivess at Busan. 

Robert Papstein taught me that famine is as much the engineered outcome of disastrous politics as the simple result of unforgiving drought

At the recent WCHS, a panel on listening to those affected by aid efforts fell under the “innovations” category. But listening to those whom we are intending to help shouldn’t be seen as an innovation—it should be standard practice. This is what p…

Aid workers are a beautiful subject for anthropology: they mediate ideas about aid and development and they are the frontline folks that translate programmes into reality. Two books were recently published about them. Anne Meike Fechter and Heathe…

This is my first experience with a large-scale academic conference. Two and a half days – over 400 people, 4 panel sessions per day, up to 9 panels per session to choose from, up to 5 papers per panel. The Second World Conference on Humanitarian S…

The first day of the conference has left me with a bunch of ideas to write about. Do I want to write about the new buzz for evidence in humanitarianism? Or what about the use of images in the humanitarian field and how we react to suffering? One c…

400 people gathered in an auditorium to hear the opening speeches. Many familiar faces. Waves and smiles. Searching for the forgotten name. How long has it been? You haven’t changed. Many new faces. Open, expectant, like-minded, allies.Humanitaria…

Humanitarianism today is faced with many challenges. On 2-5 June 2011, the Second World Conference on Humanitarian Studies (WCHS) brought together the best of thinkers and researchers to discuss urgent questions about the changing nature of curren…

International affairs can be examined at many levels, including transnational networks, relations between states, regional dynamics, foreign policy and the many links between local events in different countries. But there is a difference between a…

Thea Hilhorst, professor of Humanitarian Aid and Reconstruction at Wageningen University, is one of our resident bloggers.

Like Barten, Schrecker and Woodward we believe that health is not about health care only, and optimal health care is not the sum of interventions against health problems. Consequently we believe that the current international global health promoti…

Crises, conflicts and emergencies are not simply deviations from normality, as is usually believed. Rather, there is much more continuity with normality. Often, crises are manifestations of, or they catalyze, intensified processes of change that w…

Policy makers and academics have different time horizons. That is one reason for their often limited dialogue. However, alignment and mutual reinforcement are necessary – especially in times of crisis.

‘Humanitarian aid has moved to the heart of the political debate’, according to Thea Hilhorst, professor of humanitarian aid and reconstruction at Wageningen University. ‘Discussions on humanitarian aid are always centred on the latest crisis. I w…