Understanding the Humanitarian World

Daniel Maxwell is the Henry J. Leir Professor in Food Security at the Feinstein International Center and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, at Tufts University. He teaches humanitarian action, humanitarian policy, and food security in crisis situations. His recent research is on the re-emergence of famines in the 21st century, as well as food security in crises and livelihood systems under stress. He is the author, with Nisar Majid, of Famine in Somalia: Competing Imperatives, Collective Failures (2016). Prior to joining the faculty at Tufts in 2016, he was the Deputy Director for Eastern and Central Africa for CARE International, and spent twenty years working in Eastern, Central and West Africa. He holds a B.Sc. from Wilmington College, a Master’s degree from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Kirsten Heidi Gelsdorf is a Professor of Practice and the Director of Global Humanitarian Policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, at the University of Virginia (UVA). She teaches global humanitarian crisis response and humanitarian policy development. Her recent research focuses on effectiveness, advocacy, and innovation in the humanitarian sector. She has worked for over 20 years in the humanitarian sector most recently serving as the Chief of Policy Analysis and Innovation at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Her career includes serving on responses to major emergencies including the Ethiopian Famine, the Liberian War, the Tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricane Katrina, the Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake. She holds a Bachelor degree from Dartmouth College, and Master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Introduction 1. The origins of contemporary humanitarian action: From the early beginnings to World War II 2. Humanitarian action in the Cold War and its aftermath 3. Humanitarian action in the twenty-first century 4. Contemporary humanitarian actors 5. Contemporary humanitarian architecture and action 6. Changes in policy and practice 7. Unresolved (and unresolvable?): Understanding the humanitarian world in the twenty-first century