Social Science Research Council

The recent record of humanitarian action in emergencies is alternately inspiring and tragic, reflecting good will and deep problems within the "humanitarian system." Crises ranging from earthquakes to civil war, from famine to genocide, test the capacity for humanitarian action and call into question its underlying assumptions.

The Council’s working group on Humanitarian Action, co-chaired by Michael Barnett (Minnesota) and Thomas Weiss (CUNY), completed work on Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics this February. The volume brings together voices from the academic and practitioner realms to explore issues of contemporary humanitarianism such as questions of governance and effectiveness, the relationship between different standards of accountability (in fiscal and moral terms), the tension between humanitarian neutrality and human rights advocacy, and the entrance of for-profit enterprises in to the relief sector. The book is forthcoming from the Cornell University Press.