Key publications - When Disaster Meets Conflict

Melis, S. (Samantha), & Hilhorst, D.J.M. (2020). When the mountain broke: disaster governance in Sierra Leone.Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal. doi:10.1108/DPM-03-2020-0076.

This study aimed to uncover the complexities of state-led disaster response in a hybrid governance setting at national and community levels in the response to the 2017 landslide and floods in Sierra Leone

Mena, R. (Rodrigo), & Hilhorst, D.J.M. (2020). The (im)possibilities of disaster risk reduction in the context of high-intensity conflict: the case of Afghanistan.Environmental Hazards.

This study analyses the promotion, implementation, and challenges of Disaster Risk Reduction in Afghanistan.

E.H.C. Kuipers, I. Desportes & M.A. Hordijk (2019). Of locals and insiders – a ‘localized’ humanitarian response to the 2017 Mocoa mudslide in Colombia? Disaster Prevention and Management. doi: 10.1108/DPM-12-2018-0384

Through the case of the response to the 2017 Mocoa mudslide in Colombia, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to a deeper understanding of why and how humanitarian response should be locally led, particularly in more complex contexts such as those affected by conflict.

Desportes, I., Mandefro, H., & Hilhorst, D.J.M. (2019). The Humanitarian theatre: Drought response during Ethiopia’s low-intensity conflict of 2016. Journal of Modern African Studies, 57(1), 1–29.
Ethiopia is often regarded a humanitarian success case when it comes to responding to disasters. But what happens backstage, and when the worst drought in decades overlaps with widespread and deadly protests and a State of Emergency? 

Brauch, H.G., Oswald Spring, U., Collins, A., Serrano Oswald, S.E. (Eds.) (2019) Change, Disasters, Sustainability Transition and Peace in the Anthropocene. Springer

Samantha Melis and Rodrigo Mena each wrote a chapter in this book. Samantha Melis’ chapter is entitled ‘The Fragile State of Disaster Response: Understanding Aid-State-Society Relations in Post-Conflict Settings’, Rod Mena’s ‘Climate Change, Disasters, Sustainability Transition and Peace in the Anthropocene’.

van Voorst, R. (2019). Praxis and paradigms of local and expatriate workers in ‘Aidland’. Third World Quarterly

Desportes, I. (2019). Getting relief to marginalised minorities: the response to cyclone Komen in 2015 in Myanmar. Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 1–26. 

This open access paper presents our case findings on the cyclone Komen response in 2015 in Myanmar. Focus is on Chin and Rakhine State, and the social navigation strategies which civil society and international humanitarian organizations devised to get relief to marginalized ethnic and religious minorities.

Hilhorst, D.J.M. (2018). Classical humanitarianism and resilience humanitarianism: making sense of two brands of humanitarian action.  Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 3, 1-12.

In recent years, the classical, Dunantist humanitarian paradigm that was based on the ethics of the humanitarian principles and centred on humanitarian UN agencies and NGOs has been paralleled by a resilience paradigm that is focused on local people and institutions as the first responders to crises. Whereas classical humanitarianism is rooted in the notion of exceptionalism, resilience humanitarianism starts from the idea of crisis as the new normality.

This paper discusses the two paradigms and the incongruent images they evoke about crises, local institutions and the recipients of aid.

van Voorst, R.S. & Hilhorst, D.J.M (2017). Humanitarian action in disaster and conflict settings. Insights of an expert panel.

One of the first team publications, this report  by Roanne van Voorst and Dorothea Hilhorst helps scholars and practitioners to better understand the engagement of the international aid sector with local political realities in conflict settings. The report records the insights that were drawn from two rounds of an expert panel, in which 30 key humanitarian actors with great experience in the field participated.