The humanitarian frame of war: how security and violence are allocated in contemporary aid delivery

Iida-Maria Tammi

Third World Quarterly, 2022, vol. 43, issue 5, 963-978

Abstract: This article analyses the reasons behind local aid workers’ asymmetrical exposure to violence in contemporary humanitarian action. Taking Judith Butler’s theorisation of ‘interpretive frames’ as its analytical starting point, the article traces the process by which the humanitarian system distinguishes between lives that are to be protected and those that are dispensable. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Syrian aid workers and other experts, the article shows how the humanitarian frame makes it difficult to correctly recognise local actors’ security needs and vulnerabilities. Moreover, the normative and temporal limits of the humanitarian security project exclude certain types of threats from the view and make it difficult for local aid actors to articulate their need for protection. To address these issues, the article calls for more critical reflection regarding the marginalising and silencing effects of the existing security framework.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2022.2055538

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