Bulletin n. 2/2016
December 2016
INDICE
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Barnett Michael
    The humanitarian act: how humanitarian?
    in International Social Science Journal , Volume 65, Issue 215-216, March–June 2014 ,  2014 ,  13-24
    The full text is free: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/issj.12072/full What makes an act humanitarian? Those in the humanitarian community tend to offer two potentially complementary answers. An oft-hearddefinition is that it is the neutral, impartial, and independent provision of life-saving assistance to victims of conflict and natural disasters. Impartiality means that relief is given to those in need, not those who we like or who look like us. Neutrality demands that humanitarian organisations refrain from taking part in hostilities or from any action that either benefits or disadvantages the parties to the conflict. Independence demands that assistance should not be connected to any of the parties directly involved in armed conflicts or who have a stake in the outcome; accordingly, there is a general rule that agencies should either refuse or limit their reliance on government funding. These principles are often treated as enabling humanitarians to do their job; if they are seen as neutral, impartial, and independent, and thus are apolitical, then they will be better able to get access to those in need.1 These operational principles, in other words, are prescriptive, situational and functional. Because of the circumstances in which they often find themselves, humanitarians should adopt principles to increase the likelihood that they can deliver relief...
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