Social Science Research Council

Part of the transformation of humanitarian action includes the impressive changes that have taken place within humanitarian organizations themselves. They are more professionalized. They also are more bureaucratic. This maturation is presumably heralded because it will allow humanitarian organizations to be more effective in the field. Yet we know very little about the structure of careers, recruitment patterns, or the divisions within humanitarian organizations. Presumably professionalization and bureaucratization, which have occurred in other fields of mercy, have improved the quality of care. These developments also are associated with various organizational maladies, including the tendency to elevate the interests of the organization and its staff over the objects of compassion.

March 2005 Presenters

Stephen Hopgood, Lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Link to paper: "The Professionalisation and Bureaucratisation of Humanitarian Action"

Nicolas de Torrente, Executive Director, Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), US Office
Link to Paper: "The Professionalization and Bureaucratization of Humanitarian Action: Some reflections from MSF's Experience"