Suchergebnisse

The world has largely internalized the moral imperative to provide relief to the victims of humanitarian emergencies. Due to the increasing and diversified efforts by nongovernmental organizations and governmental agencies, the international capacity to deliver humanitarian aid is mostly in place. Obviously, the political will of governments and the capacity of the fragmented nongovernmental organization field to provide assistance is sometimes in doubt. However, the main humanitarian dilemma concerns the political repercussions of assistance which has become a resource in and a part of the dynamics of local conflicts. As the cases of Bosnia, Rwanda, and Somalia indicate, military faction leaders have learned to take advantage of the relief operations, which has resulted in their misuse and even prolonged the crisis (of which Sudan is a good example). To alleviate this problem, one can pursue two avenues: either reform the aid process or use military force more systematically to protect the deliveries and people involved. The emphasis should be on the reform of humanitarian relief.

Domestic factors have become increasingly important with the erosion of bipolarity in international relations. Together with the transnationalization of the world economy and civil society, this change has weakened the state apparatus: and yet the latter is expected to act more effectively for domestic and global governance. The ensuing dilemma of state action is particularly acute in countries like Italy and Japan, where the alliance relationship with the United States has been propped up by conservative political parties. In socialist countries the bipolar international order was closely associated with the one-party state. The lack of accountability by governments in East and West has not been replaced by a new democracy, but rather by a new political volatility reflected in changing coalitions and populist policies. Political imperatives of the Cold War are about to be replaced by the imperatives of the market place. This in turn requires that peace and war issues be analyzed in a new key.