ABSTRACT
One can imagine Moses in Sinai fussing with Israelite recipients over quality and quantity of food rations, in the same way refugee administrators. A few of the modern relief agencies have their primary origin in wars that took place in the nineteenth century, but the really large and efficient process of mass famine relief began in earnest during and after World War I. First was the period between 1914 and 1939, when famine relief was first undertaken by the American businessman Herbert Hoover, first in Belgium during World War I, and later in Russia after the war. Two recurrent issues emerged after World War II, which brought about the development of the refugee relief bureaucracies arid which continue to be at the core of refugee relief operations. First is the need to provide food, water, and shelter to civilian victims of conflict; second is the need for internationally guaranteed legal protection for refugees unable to return to their home country.
