Forms of Politicization of Humanitarian Aid in the European Union

• Applicant: Dr. Charlotte Dany
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: Funded in 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 253366504

Humanitarian aid is in a state of crisis, which requires adaptations by donor institutions. More and more people fall victim to humanitarian disasters. But humanitarian aid often does not reach these people. At the same time, humanitarian organizations face many dilemmas in their on-site operation. Donors react to these problems differently. Most of them withdraw from a strict adherence to the humanitarian principles. They promote longer-term structural development projects, cooperate more closely with states and military organizations, or specify terms and conditions for receiving aid. In short, they follow the trend of the politicization of humanitarian aid. Yet, neither what this trend actually entails, nor what consequences it has, is fully clear. Therefore, I seek to conceptualize and operationalize what politicization of humanitarian aid means, in order to show how humanitarian aid is politicized within the European Union (EU). While politicization is mostly used in the context of humanitarian organizations operating in the field, it is even more unclear what it means for rather conceptualizing and coordinating institutions like the EU. To conceptualize the term I bring together two understandings of politicization: one from the context of humanitarian aid and the other from the context of international institutions. I then propose how the politicization of humanitarian aid should be analyzed in the EU. I thereby focus on the phases of agenda-building and policy formulation as much as on multi-stakeholder processes in which different kinds of actors reflect on humanitarian aid in and by the EU. Finally, I will analyze some concrete recent political processes (development of the Framework Partnership Agreements and the Comprehensive Approach of Crisis management and -prevention), in order to exemplary demonstrate the politicization of humanitarian aid in the EU. I expect three major results from the study. (1) It clarifies what politicization of humanitarian aid means and makes it useful for empirical research on coordinating international humanitarian institutions. (2) It characterizes the EU as humanitarian actor. It further shows how the policy field of humanitarian aid (as part of the EUs Foreign and Security Policy) moves beyond intergovernmentalism, including more transnational actors. (3) It allows for empirical insights into recent negotiations and reflections on the future of humanitarian aid in the EU. In the longer term, these results may contribute to a better understanding of the consequences of the politicization of humanitarian aid.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Norway
• Host: Professor Erik Oddvar Eriksen