ABSTRACT
Humanitarian action will clearly be an “ecosystem” made up of multiple actors and multiple systems interacting with each other in the name of humanity. During the Cold War, the bulk of humanitarian action was on the fringes of conflict zones—refugees across a border from a warring country being perhaps the most common example. Humanitarian action continues apace—in part because there is no alternative, no “panic button” that can be pushed to stop out-of-control, major crises in a dozen or more countries until some of the thorny issues that have arisen can be decided and addressed. Donors continue to want humanitarians to act to some degree in the political interests of the government(s) offering funding, and that will always be the case, despite the principle of independence. Governments have a major role to play in this, but humanitarian agencies can and do work on resilience-building agendas even in areas outside government control or where governments don’t have the capacity to lead.
