DV428      Half Unit
Managing Humanitarianism

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

The course looks at the causes and range of responses to disaster agents and conflict. Building on an analysis of the causes, construction and consequences of humanitarian disasters, the course focuses on the functioning of the system. It considers the history, principles and the politics of humanitarian action; the overlaps and tensions between practices of humanitarian assistance and humanitarian intervention and how humanitarian institutions shape and are shaped by global governance and state power. It also considers why humanitarian organisations and governments respond to some crises and not to others as well as the extent to which the system accommodates gender and embodies neo-colonial practices.  It also critically examines the ways in which the humanitarian system has sought to professionalise itself. Examples will be drawn from humanitarian disasters in Africa, Central and South Asia and Latin America. However, there is also likely to be discussion of ongoing humanitarian emergencies, wherever they are located. The course is augmented by a visiting lecture series (the ‘Voice of Experience’ lecture series) through which practitioners discuss issues of relevance to the management of humanitarian emergencies. Past speakers have included former UN Under Secretaries General, gender advisers for major humanitarian organisations, emergencies and fundraising directors and organisations as diverse as the UNHCR, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, Islamic Relief and southern based local organisations.

15 hours of seminars and 20 hours of lectures in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

The final lecture of AT week 11 is a revision lecture.

Five or six 'Voice of Experience' lectures. Programme to be announced in week 2 of AT.

The teaching strategy is diverse and innovative: using both conventional discussions as well as a variety of small group exercises. These will feed directly into a formative piece of work related to the summative assessment.

Presentation

Essay (1000 words) in Autumn Term Week 5

Students will receive feedback on seminar group presentations and have the option to write a formative essay, not exceeding 1,000 words due in week 5 of AT. Essay topics will relate to seminar discussions and lecture material covered to date. Students will receive an indicative grade and written feedback within four weeks of submission (if submitted on time).  

Stuart Gordon and Antonio Donini ‘Romancing Principles and Human Rights - Are Humanitarian Principles Salvageable?’ International Review of the Red Cross / Volume 97 / Issue 897-898 / June 2015, pp 77-109;

M. Barnett, (2011). Empire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism, Ithaca: Cornell University Press;

M. Barnett, M. Barnett & T. G. Weiss (Eds.), 2008. Humanitarianism in Question Politics Power and Ethics, Ithaca: Cornell University Press;

A. De Waal, 1997. Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa. Oxford: James Currey;

G. Loescher, (2001). The UNHCR and World Politics, Oxford University Press;

D. Rieff, (2002). A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis, Vintage/Random House.

Essay (100%) in Winter Term Week 1

The course is assessed through the submission of two 2100-word essays in week 1 of the Winter Term. Exam papers will comprise a section A with questions drawn from specific taught weeks and a section B with questions that engage themes drawn from multiple weeks. Students are expected to address one question from each of section A and B.