The work of the Humanitarianism Research Group seeks to contribute to the development of humanitarianism as a field of study in its own right, and to further a more critical debate on humanitarian issues and humanitarian policies at the national, regional and international level.
At the tail end of armed international engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq and faced with new types of emergencies caused by climate change, urbanization and shifting geopolitics, the humanitarian enterprise currently finds itself at the crossroads: The research group’s overarching concern is: What is the future of the humanitarian system? This question entails investigations of its current character, how it is changing and how it ought to change. We plan to explore these issues through four different themes, each encompassing a number of related research questions:
Theme 1: Local actors and Dynamics of Humanitarianism
- How can humanitarianism balance the need for standardized approaches and the unique context and challenges of a specific crisis?
- How should humanitarianism adjust to the persistence of complex armed violence (non-state actors, organized transnational crime)?
- How will urbanization shape our understanding of the relationship between structural poverty and humanitarian crisis?
- During and in the aftermath of specific crises, how can we critically assess the coupling of humanitarianism and protection of vulnerable groups (e.g. , such as women, children and minorities)? How do governments affected by humanitarian crises relate to the issues of protection, access and responsibility.
- In which ways can climate-change related phenomena such as extreme hazard events, the rise in sea levels, and environmental degradation, whether sudden-onset or gradual, both trigger displacement and affect those already displaced?
Theme 2: Humanitarianism and Technology
- What are the possibilities and pitfalls of using biometrics, information and robot technology and social media in the identification of humanitarian emergencies and the delivery of assistance and protection?
- How is humanitarian reform (including standardization, regulation and measurement efforts) continuing to reshape service delivery and protection?
Theme 3: New humanitarian Actors
- How do rising powers’ understand humanitarianism conceptually?
- How will the common and diverging interests of established and new humanitarian actors shape the understanding of humanitarian crisis at the law and policy level, and how will it impact the delivery of assistance?
- What is the role of Diasporas in providing assistance during and in the aftermath of humanitarian crisis, and how do Diasporas interact with humanitarian organizations and policy makers?
- What is the role of faith-based humanitarianism, and what approaches, values and practices do faith-based actors bring to crisis and post-crisis settings?
Theme 4: Power and Ethics in Humanitarianism
- How can the relevance and appropriateness of humanitarian engagement be properly assessed?
- How is humanitarianism affected by changing perceptions of sovereignty and security, and related transformations in the techniques and practices of governance?
- How will the security/development/humanitarianism nexus continue to shift the terrain of humanitarian assistance?
- How do we demarcate the boundary between humanitarian engagement and normal politics, or crisis and normalcy, and what are the dynamics involved in the perpetuation of crisis?
- How is “human rights based humanitarianism” evolving, and what ought this relationship to become? Are there other ways of envisioning a more ‘just’ humanitarianism?
- What is the appropriate relationship between research, practice and policy in the humanitarian sector?
The goal of this research group is to establish a strong humanitarian research community at PRIO, with the ability to undertake interdisciplinary and long-term research at the highest academic level. We aim to contribute to public debate and agenda setting as well as to the general professionalization of humanitarian practice.
Humanitarianism is still an evolving field of study. As illustrated by events over the past ten years, the institutional and political frameworks of the humanitarian enterprise will continue to shift the terrain of global governance in the new century, posing novel challenges to traditional ideas of sovereignty, security and human welfare. To understand the political, legal, ethical, cultural and economic implications of this development, there is a need for basic research into the premises and impact of contemporary humanitarian practice, with a focus on developing better conceptual and methodological approaches.
The Humanitarianism Research Group encompasses the academic fields of anthropology, history, criminology, sociology, geography, law, political theory, international relations, and ethics. Although quantitative approaches will oftentimes be utilized or relied upon, the researchers within this research group mainly employ qualitative approaches. The Humanitarianism Research Group includes both normative and descriptive projects.