Book Series

This is a selective listing of recent English-language works on the relationship between development and crisis, with particular reference to Complex Humanitarian Emergencies (CHEs). However, much of the richest and most innovative thinking in this field is to be found in unpublished programme evaluation reports, in scholarly journals, or in detailed case-studies. Here, we have focused on major works and material that is readily accessible; most of which also have bibliographies to which readers can refer. Country-specific material has been cited where this illustrates broader issues of humanitarian policy and practice; or where it gives voice to those directly affected by war and armed conflict. A listing of major international research projects is included, most of which publish studies in their own right, and hold specialised databases or documentation centres.

The Bibliography was compiled and annotated by Deborah Eade and Caroline Knowles, Editor and Reviews Editor respectively of Development in Practice, with Stephen Commins and Chris Jackson.

A study of the moral and practical dilemmas posed by the 'unbridled' involvement of humanitarian NGOs in post-Cold War complex emergencies, and a fierce critique of their role in making influential (and often naive or opportunist) political judgements that are 'apparently unimpeded by limits on their mandate and expertise, or by accountability'. Examining the performance of NGOs and the specialised UN agencies in Ethiopia, Sudan, Angola, Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda, the authors call for NGOs to clarify their ethical mandate and operational principles and apply these in a clear and consistent manner.

Building on several case-studies, the authors show that relief programmes are never neutral in their impact on development. They present a simple framework for understanding the dynamic relationship between different people's needs, vulnerabilities, and capacities, known as Capacities and Vulnerabilities Analysis (CVA). Critiquing current emergency relief practice, the authors show various practical ways in which it might be improved.

A compilation of eight case-studies documenting examples of NGO coordination in emergencies in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, Cambodia, and Central America. An overview examines the dangers of NGO expansion in emergencies, especially where this allows bilateral and multilateral aid to be channelled through the non-governmental sector at the expense of Southern governments and public service structures. The question arises why NGOs coordinate best in crisis, and what their true impact is if they undermine government structures.

Since 1945, some 22 million people have died in wars, and many of the 42 million displaced persons worldwide are victims of conflict. This book assesses the true costs, using case-studies of the Gulf War, East Timor, Mozambique, Peru, Kashmir, Sudan, and former Yugoslavia. It examines the human casualties, as well as the consequences in social, developmental, and environmental terms. It also attempts to calculate the wider costs both to the countries involved and to their economic partners, and asks who ultimately benefits from conflict.

War has caused the death of two million children, and left six times as many without homes, since the mid-1980s. Related to this is 'the increased participation of children in hostilities, in terms both of numbers and the ... nature of their involvement'. Written for the Henry Dunant Institute of the Red Cross, this book examines child soldiers in the context of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. Drawing on data from Africa, Asia and Latin America, the authors explore the motivations of child soldiers, as well as those of the adults who recruit and exploit them.

Humanitarian organisations that work in war zones must weigh their responsibility to the affected populations against their obligation to protect their own employees. This book advises NGOs on how they can better protect their staff, and so improve their chances of continuing their humanitarian work. Based on SCF's experience, it examines safety in terms of basic principles such as risk management and non-partisanship; safety-conscious management practices; and practical security measures. It also offers advice on the evacuation of employees, and explaining actions to the media.

In this influential paper, the author draws a direct between political instability and the rise of internal wars and complex political emergencies, which threaten to destroy the entire cultural, civil, political and economic integrity of a society. Ethnic factors are common to these emergencies. Relief agencies and NGOs often fail to recognise the distinction between natural disasters and complex emergencies, and so adopt 'linear' analyses and responses based on inappropriate assumptions about the possibility of 'a return to normal'. Instead, they should design their programmes around the fact that complex emergencies are the norm in the post-Cold War era. However, in shaping their appeals (and hence their accountability) to their donors rather than to those affected by political violence, NGOs may implicitly further Western disengagement a commitment to equitable development.

This 3-volume reference book offers an authoritative guide to thinking, policy and practice in every area of development and emergency relief work in which Oxfam is involved. Chapter Two, 'Focusing on People', explores those aspects of social identity that should inform all development and emergency relief work, such as gender, ethnic and cultural identity, childhood, old age, and disability. Chapter Six, 'Emergencies and Development', focuses largely on Complex Humanitarian Emergencies (CHEs) involving war and armed conflict. Oxfam's accent is on building sustainable local capacities both to identify needs and deliver assistance, and also to reduce vulnerability in the longer term. Detailed sections address practical issues concerning NGO coordination, needs assessment, nutrition, environmental health (including water, sanitation, and housing), and food security. Each section includes Key Questions and Further Resources. A 500-entry annotated NGO Resources Directory comprises the third volume, and is also published separately.

Despite growing awareness of the disproportionate vulnerability of women in situations of conflict, and the so-called 'gender violence' of rape and sexual abuse, aid agencies still show a weak understanding of how to design relief interventions in a gender-sensitive way. Even agencies with gender policies may suggest that gender analysis is a unaffordable luxury in a crisis. The book examines five areas that are central to refugees' well-being: protection, access to social and material services, economic activity, repatriation and reconstruction, resettlement in a third country. Straightforward and gender-sensitive policy and practice alternatives are presented for each area.

Communal identity may be based on shared historical experiences or myths, religious beliefs, language, ethnicity, region of residence, and, in caste-like systems, customary occupations. Often referred to as ethnic groups or minorities, their identification depends not on the presence of particular traits, but on the shared perception that these set the group apart. Surveying over 200 politically active communal groups, the author asks: what communal identities and interests are most at odds with the structures and policies of existing states, and why? Strategies to reduce ethnic conflict, such as autonomy, pluralism, and formal power-sharing are discussed.

A booklet summarising the basic rules of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which lays out agreements concerning the protection of the victims of armed conflicts, for which there are some 600 provisions in the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols. Further information about IHL and details of other publications are available from ICRC (qv).

A collection of essays on the post-Cold War world, reflecting on how recent global changes will affect future world security. The first four focus on the broad political and social contours of the emerging international system. Others cover nuclear proliferation, arms trafficking, ethnic and regional conflict, Third World militarism, international human rights, violence against women, environmental degradation, demographic change, under-development, and hunger.

As a result of the wars in Central America in the 1970s and 1980s, many rural (often indigenous) populations were displaced or became homeless. Most remained as internally displaced persons, with little access to international protection and assistance. Of the many thousands who sought asylum abroad, few acquired refugee status, but faced instead the fear and insecurity of being undocumented or illegal migrants. Continued conflict seemed to render repatriation inconceivable. However, many refugees returned from the mid-1980s, firstly in a spontaneous movement, and later with assistance from UNHCR and others.

Worldwide, most displaced persons either do not qualify for, or do not have access to, international aid; and most refugees return home with little or no international assistance. In analysing specific cases of spontaneous and/or unassisted voluntary repatriation, the essays in this book (which includes several by Latin American writers) illustratrate the wider policy and practice dilemmas the phenomenon poses for humanitarian agencies.

A companion volume, Repatriating During Conflict in Africa and Asia (1992), also edited by Cuny et al, is published by the Center for the Study of Societies in Crisis. For a summary of the main issues, see Stein, B N and F K Cuny, 'Refugee Repatriation during Conflict: Protection and Post-return Assistance', Development in Practice, 4/3: 173-187.

An account of a Salvadoran community of 8,000, who returned in the midst of civil conflict after 9 years as refugees in Honduras. The Ciudad Segundo Montes (named for one of the six Jesuits who were murdered by the military in 1989), faced unanticipated problems in the transition to post-war reconstruction. With declining foreign aid and international concern, and without public investment or state subsidies, people had to abandon many of the beliefs and organisational approaches that had motivated and bound them while in exile. The book provides unique insights into experiences shared by poor people who struggle to rebuild their lives in a post-war (and post-Cold War) framework, and so move from survival and subsistence to development.

A compilation (with papers by David Keen, Alex de Waal, Mark Duffield, and Hugo Slim) examining the relationships between poverty, armed conflict, food insecurity, and the dilemmas of providing humanitarian relief in times of war. Complex Humanitarian Emergencies (CHEs) are inherently political, whether they take the form of genocide (or 'ethnic cleansing') or other forms of human rights violations (such as the denial of food to certain population groups). Donors and NGOs often fail to comprehend the underlying political causes; and the failures of international aid efforts are partly due to this. Based largely on case-studies from Africa, authors call for greater clarity and accountability in the international relief system, arguing that transitional (post-conflict) issues must be addressed by local organisational structures.

The Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda takes as its starting point the fact that the massive humanitarian operation engendered by the Rwandan crisis ought never to have been necessary in the first place. Had appropriate political and diplomatic action been taken at an earlier stage, much of the human devastation resulting from the genocide might have been prevented. The report, which comprises four separate studies and a synthesis document, examines the background of the 1994 crisis, the role of key international players, the performance of the myriad organisations involved in humanitarian assistance and post-war reconstruction efforts. Few of those involved escape criticism: the report poses serious challenges for the UN General Secretariat, the Security Council, influential regional and OECD governments, the UN's humanitarian agencies and human rights machinery, NGOs, and the media. Important recommendations are made concerning the future management of such interventions, and the report is likely to influence debate on 'complex emergencies' for some time to come.

A handbook synthesising lessons and setting out humanitarian principles and policy guidelines for civilian actors involved in providing humanitarian assistance and protection in wars and other armed conflicts. Despite differences among them, UN organisations, donor governments, NGOs, ICRC, and institutions working in conflict areas, all share a basic commitment to these principles.

Agencies that are clear and consistent in how they articulate and observe certain humanitarian principles are thought to function most successfully situations of conflict. But when agencies rely on improvisation, unconstrained by fidelity to stated principles of action, they perform less adequately. A range of practical considerations are offered for how to improve performance and accountability, as well as a proposed practioners' code of conduct for humanitarian organisations, both individually and as a community.

Describing the experience of the international community in responding to the increase in violent conflict in the early post-Cold War period, the authors review its efforts to provide assistance and protection to civilian populations. Written for the concerned international public, the authors draw on many interviews with relief workers, and provide non-specialists with an insight into the challenges faced by humanitarian aid professionals.

Three papers from a 1994 OECD Colloquium, with an overview and conclusion. Larry Minear sets out a conceptual framework for discussing development in conflict. He analyses the responsibilities of, constraints to, and opportunities for donors, UN peace-support operations, and NGOs. Mary B Anderson looks at how the international community might provide political and moral help to societies emerging from conflict in order to reduce tensions, support development, and build the wider conditions for sustainable peace. Kumar Rupesinghe discusses the relationship between conflict and development and calls for a 'strategic umbrella' approach to conflict-prevention, under which country-specific consortia of concerned government bodies and NGOs, co-operating with inter-governmental groups, would focus on addressing situations of emerging conflict.

A detailed and compelling account of grassroots development that took place in the guerrilla-held war zones of El Salvador, as defined and run by peasant communities in the area. Activities included education and adult literacy, community health work, agricultural production, and systems of community policing, as well as the organisational skills required to manage these.

This book highlights the lack of international protection and assistance for internally displaced persons who have 'fled conditions of generalised violence in which their own government is involved or which it cannot control'. It questions the conventional separation between internal and external affairs where national sovereignty acts as a shield behind which a government allows sectors of its population to be forcibly displaced. The obligation to protect and promote human rights resides with States, and hence with the international community. Policies to assist refugees and displaced persons require that forced migration be addressed primarily as a major violation of human rights.

Describing the effect of landmines on people, their communities, their lives and livelihoods, this book examines the consequences of landmine use on refugee movement and resettlement, and on the environment. It also covers issues such as mine clearance and mine-awareness, and medical, rehabilitative and psychological costs.

Discussion about how the media coverage of international crises influences policy-making. Contributors all agree how important well-informed and well-developed media attention is in the formulation of sensible policies regarding the resolution of ethnic and religious conflict and complex humanitarian crises. The issue is examined from many angles: how the media covers emergency situations, and the influence of the media (particularly television) on both governmental decision-making and NGO actions; the views of humanitarian groups on the limitations of media coverage, especially how they can help the media maintain high standards when issues are reduced to sound bites; the current state of policy-making in the United States and the disputed effects of media coverage and public opinion on policy formulation.

Based on a 1986 seminar (sponsored by the UN University, International Alert, the Norwegian Human Rights Institute, and the International Peace Research Institute), contributors explore ethnic conflicts and their relationship to human rights. Reviewing theories of ethnic conflict resolution, and various historical, social, political, and legal factors, they seek elements for potential strategies for ending conflicts and promoting peace. The collection includes case-studies of Northern Ireland, South Africa, Nicaragua, and Sri Lanka.

Relief workers now work in operational situations - complex humanitarian emergencies - that call for re-training (or re-skilling). This requires a fundamental reappraisal of what constitutes humanitarian work, which now includes political analysis, negotiation skills, conflict prediction and management, and information-gathering capacity. For NGOs, new demands include working with armed guards and/or military forces, specific country information (not relief generalities), involvement in community peace-building, and a better understanding of physical and mental health issues.

A comprehensive picture of contemporary ethnic issues as manifested in most of the world's major regions. After discussing such issues in relation to the theories of nation, State, modernisation, and class, the case of Latin America is analysed in depth. The author examines the extent of ethnic rights protection in the UN and other international systems, the problems of indigenous and tribal peoples, racism in Western Europe, and government cultural and education policies in relation to ethnic minorities.

This collection of ten commissioned articles falls into three broad themes: the concept and practice of democracy in El Salvador; the Duarte period and the role of US political, economic, and military intervention; and major social forces within the country - the Church, the popular movement, political parties, the armed forces, and the guerrilla movement - and their role in the peace process. It presents a composite view from Salvadorans and others who experienced the war, and demonstrates both the importance of grounding humanitarian work in an understanding of the causes of conflict, and the limits on external intervention in determining the outcome.

Global militarism - the legacy of the Cold War - is, together with deepening economic polarisation between North and South, and environmental constraints on economic growth and development, seen as a central factor in contributing to insecurity. Using illustrations from both North and South to diagnose the problems caused by increasing militarism, the authors analyse the links between conflict, poverty, development, and environmental degradation; and ask why Northern governments pursue policies that exacerbate North-South tensions. They propose alternative policy measures for demilitarisation, sustainable development, and environmental management.

This two-part article explores the experience of living and working for an international NGO in a civil war whose roots lay in the inequitable distribution of power and wealth. Based on 12 years' work in Central America, the author reflects on the demands and constraints placed on aid workers in a counter-insurgency war; and on how this shapes relationships with local organisations and NGOs. Empowerment and participation are examined from the perspective of people who refused to be war victims. In part II, the author examines the impacts of war and political violence both on those who survive, and on local and international workers who are concerned to address its causes and consequences.

These booklets deal with human rights issues that are under active consideration or of particular interest. The series (over 20 titles) offers a good account of basic human rights, what the UN is doing to promote and protect them, and the international machinery available to help realise those rights. Relevant titles include: The International Bill of Human Rights, Advisory Services and Technical Assistance in the Field of Human Rights, Methods of Combating Torture, Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, The Committee against Torture, and Human Rights and Refugees.

With the end of the Cold War, genuine security and stability cannot be ensured without addressing problems of a non-military character, in particular those related to environmental protection, economic and social development, the prevention of discrimination and violations of human rights, and extreme poverty and exclusion. The book considers new forms of international, regional and national security, that would be compatible with aspirations for a world in which the ideals of democracy, human rights and development can be realised.

Annual report examining the plight of displaced people and analysing the world's changing response to forced migration. Contains current statistics together with appendices giving details of UNHCR's work, international instruments and their significance, and a bibliography. Recent reports have for example focused on 'The Challenge for Protection' (1993), 'In Search of Solutions' (1995).

A comprehensive examination of contemporary problems that often underlie violent conflict and which thus form a context for complex emergencies and post-war reconstruction. These include poverty, unemployment, inequality, and organised crime; as well as the declining responsibility of public institutions. Part I discusses the impact of globalisation on impoverishment, inequalities, work insecurity, weakening of institutions and social support systems, and the erosion of identities and values. Part II explores these developments in relation to crime, drugs, ethnic conflicts, and post-war reconstruction. Part III looks at the policy environment and the impact of the principal forces shaping contemporary societies on various institutions, stressing the links between misery and insecurity, and social conflicts, including the rise of extremist movements.

This reports on a 1994 seminar on ethnicity and ethnic conflict. Since ethnicity tends to become most destructive when under threat, reducing tension depends on protecting people's rights to form ethnic loyalties, not on repressing these. This does not imply support for policies to entrench ethnicity in social and political structures. Ethnicity evolves, and some ethnic markers lose significance, while new ones emerge.

Given the limitations of third-party intervention in ethnic conflicts, the report discusses policy approaches to facilitate accommodation in ethnically diverse societies. To promote peaceful relations, all groups need a shared interest in society as a whole. This sense of civic identity cannot be forced on people, but is one they must freely adopt. They are most likely to do so when their society respects and meets everyone's needs, including that of a sense of ethnic identity.

This, the second of three books from the Humanitarianism and War Project (qv), is aimed both at humanitarian agencies and the concerned public. It comprises essays by nine authors who examine values, the use of military force, and the future shape of humanitarian institutions.

Offering a theoretical framework for understanding the refugee phenomenon, this book also provides a survey of refugee movements in Asia, Africa and Central America. Defining refugees as people with a 'well-founded fear of violence', these are classified in three categories: activists, targets, and victims. While the first two are generally able to claim refugee status, the 'mere' victims are often denied international protection. The massive violation of fundamental human rights by governments is the main cause of forced migration, and so must be addressed as such by the international community.

A forum for practitioners, policy-makers, official aid agencies, NGOs, and academics to exchange information and analysis concerning the social dimensions of development and emergency relief work. As a multi-disciplinary journal of policy and practice, it reflects a range of institutional and cultural backgrounds and of professional experience. Regular contents include articles, viewpoints, practical notes, book reviews, books received, news in brief, and feedback.

This addresses issues concerning the provision of humanitarian assistance, particularly in conflict. For example, the May-June 1995 issue, 'Focus: Aid Under Fire' shows how distinctions between relief and development are increasingly blurred in practice, and NGO workers need negotiation and assessment skills as they face situations of violence and predation. As NGOs are often in the forefront of assisting in complex emergencies, they face a crisis of professionalism and the maintenance of integrity (credibility) in the growing humanitarian market.

A journal for research on disasters, vulnerability, and relief and emergency management. The scope of the journal extends from disasters associated with natural hazards such as earthquakes and drought through to complex, conflict-related emergencies.

Each issue focuses on a specific theme in relation to gender and development initiatives, and is also published separately in book form. Women and Emergencies (1994) and Women and Conflict (1993) explore the experiences of women in situations of crisis, including civil and military strife.

The journal brings together academics, policy-makers, and practitioners in the field of humanitarian assistance and aims to provide a means for policy debate, the sharing of lessons learned, and the fostering of cooperation within and between the different professions concerned with the many aspects of this work. The journal encompasses all aspects of humanitarian assistance, from early warning and emergency provision, to post-conflict peace building and the transition to development. This is inclusive of law, politics, the military, logistics, and the work of national and international organisations.

With a global focus on conflict and peace-making, the journal concentrates on the causes of violence, and on practical approaches to conflict-resolution.

A multidisciplinary journal dedicated to academic exploration of the problems of forced migration, and national and international responses to these. It promotes the theoretical development of refugee studies, new perspectives on refugee populations, and the reappraisal of current concepts, policies, and practice.

Works on issues of human rights abuses, conflict, famine, and civil reconstruction in Africa. It believes that the solutions to these problems - emergency humanitarian needs, political reconstruction, and accountability - must be sought primarily among Africans; and that the role of international organisations should be chiefly to support Africans' own attempts to address these.

Sponsored by the Centre for Immigration Policy and Refugee Assistance (CIPRA) at Georgetown University, the HMP supports research on refugees and labour migrants in the Americas. It encourages research on refugees and migration in the countries of origin, and to bring the findings to the attention of policy-makers both of sending, as well as of receiving, countries. Publications include: Aguayo, S (1991), From the Shadows to Center Stage: NGOs and Central American Refugee Assistance; AVANSCO (1990), Assistance and Control: Policies Toward Internally Displaced Populations in Guatemala; Ramirez, M A (1989), Refugee Policy Challenges: The Case of Nicaraguans in Costa Rica; O'Dogherty, L (1989), Central Americans in Mexico City: Uprooted and Silenced.

A major project assessing how international and multilateral agencies and NGOs might improve the response to the devastation resulting from war. Launched in 1991, it is sponsored by Brown University's Thomas J Watson Jr Institute for International Studies, and supported by many governments, UN organisations and NGOs. Focusing on 'the interface between theory and practice', the project has published a prodigious range of material, from field manuals to high-level policy documents, from newspaper articles to scholarly papers.

Holding governments accountable if they transgress the rights of their people, HRW conducts thorough investigations of human rights abuses in some 70 countries, irrespective of political ideologies and alignments, or of ethnic and religious persuasions. HRW documents and denounces murders, disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, discrimination, and other abuses of internationally recognised human rights. Its timely and reliable reports make it an essential information source.

An NGO engaged in research on the causes of violent conflict, training in mediation and negotiating skills, advocacy to persuade decision-makers to be devoted to conflict-resolution and prevention. International Alert also has regional and country programmes in East and West Africa, and South Asia.

ICRC's role is to protect and assist the victims of international and civil wars and conflicts. It is recognised as a neutral humanitarian agency in the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, which accord ICRC's delegates the authority to visit protected persons, such as prisoners of war, or civil internees. Its operations are conducted confidentially, and any human rights abuses are raised privately with the controlling authorities. ICRC's unique mandate once made it one of few international agencies working in armed conflict. However, the rapid growth of humanitarian NGOs, as well as the nature of contemporary warfare, are changing this. The ICRC takes a prime role in developing International Humanitarian Law, and has a wide range of publications, in English and in French.

The relief service and development agency of the North American Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches works in long-term development in over 50 countries, and considers peace education and peacemaking to be central to all aspects of its work. The MCC Peace Office based in the USA serves as a resource for MCC workers worldwide, and as a connection to the United Nations.

Publishes authoritative reports on minority groups all over the world, and on many issues relevant to emergency and crisis, for example: Minorities and Human Rights Law; International Action against Genocide; The Social Psychology of Minorities.

QPS supports long-term programmes by sending experienced workers who contribute to reconciliation at all levels, sometimes working with the victims of wars or violence. QPS works with the UN in the areas of disarmament, human rights, refugees, and economic development through its staff in Geneva. It also works with decision makers, whether diplomats, politicians or funders in non-official ways as intermediaries to encourage the peaceful resolution of conflict. In special circumstances QPS carries out non-official political reconciliation and communication work between different sides in war.

An independent centre for policy research and analysis on refugee and related humanitarian issues, which publishes detailed reports and policy briefings, and houses an extensive documentation centre, on matters concerning refugees and displaced persons. Of particular note is Strengthening International Protection for Internally Displaced Persons (1993).

The Refugee Studies Programme is part of the University of Oxford's International Development Centre. Established in 1982, RSP's aim is to increase understanding of the causes, consequences and experiences of forced migration through multidisciplinary research, teaching, publications, seminars, and conferences. Independent of governments and assistance agenceis, RSP provides a forum for discussion between refugees, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.

Part of the Relief and Disasters Policy Programme of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). The Programme combines research, evaluation and communications activities in collaboration with a range of bilateral, multilateral, NGO, and academic partners. The Network serves some 300 members in over 50 countries, mostly field-based. Mailings are in English and French, and members can obtain advice on technical and operational problems from within the ODI or via the Network itself.

An independent foreign affairs think-tank and public education group formed to alert governments to the need for new approaches to dealing with armed conflicts. Saferworld focuses on identifying key issues on which movement is possible, and harnessing the diverse contributions of a wide range of people, from political leaders to concerned members of the public, in order to generate creative solutions.

Analyses experience and practice in transforming a fragile cease-fire into a lasting political settlement, such that can provide the basis for sustainable development. Much research is conducted by in-country teams, coordinated via Geneva. The project seeks policy options for international donors, multilateral organisations, NGOs, and local authorities and organisations who are tackling these problems; and to contribute to integrating international assistance - economic, humanitarian, political, and military - within a coherent policy framework. It produces various publications, including After the Conflict: A review of selected sources on rebuilding war-torn societies (1995), compiled by Patricia Weiss Fagen.