The politics of emergency and the demise of the developing state: problems for humanitarian advocacy

Abstract

This article discusses humanitarian advocacy in the contemporary world within the wider crisis of political vision. Humanitarian advocacy over the past 15 years, drawing attention to how crises have been precipitated by state policies, has sought international intervention to protect people. It has consequently become associated with challenging the national sovereignty of the developing state. The author contends that the weak state is the problem, and suggests that the existing paradigm of humanitarian advocacy helps to legitimise the erosion of equality among sovereign states and the reassertion of international inequalities.

Notes

1. Frances Wakefield, email correspondence, 29 June 2005.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vanessa Pupavac

Vanessa Pupavac lectures in the Department of Politics and International Relations in the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham. She previously worked for the UN Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia and the OSCE, as well as other international organisations, and has advised on international humanitarian missions, language policies, and asylum cases.