ABSTRACT
The available literature on International Relations has rarely touched on the field of disaster management. Some scholars in the field have stated that International Relations considers assisting in responding to any disaster as independent from politics. To fill the gap in the literature on disaster management in International Relations, this chapter examines the role of international actors (state and nonstate) in responding to disasters, and explores their roles, responsibilities, governance struggles, and their effects specifically in the context of the developing world. This chapter also addresses disaster response as functional cooperation used by international players, mainly states, to advance their personal internal interests. As such, this chapter raises the following questions: what is the role of international players (being state and nonstate actors) in disaster relief in a developing context? To what extent do the personal agendas of donors affect disaster response? The main argument of this chapter is that aid in disaster response is a transboundary phenomenon that would either promote cooperation or intensify conflict among international players, and as such, international assistance and foreign aid are conditioned by strategic, political, diplomatic, and geostrategic reasons and are dominated by economic concerns. Thus, when studying disaster response, it is important to address the political agendas and motivations of donor states to be able to identify the conditions placed on donations, albeit sometimes unofficial, which are contrary to the principle of humanitarianism in this context.
