Humanitarianism rivals security in its ability to legitimize emergency measures, and has also proven to be as ambiguous and open to abuse. In this article, humanitarianism is reconceptualized as a sector of securitization, like state and societal securitization, meaning that it is a structured field of practice that draws on existing discourses and institutions to enable the implementation of emergency measures. This reconceptualization contributes to the theory of securitization by expanding its applicability beyond states and societies to humans as referent objects, but also by challenging the Copenhagen School’s conceptualization of normality/exceptionality at the domestic and international levels. Drawing on the humanitarian securitization of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the article demonstrates how the structured security field of humanitarianism privileges particular actors in speaking to human insecurity, and how the humanitarian discourse reifies and reinforces a monolithic form of human identity. The article draws attention to the process of representing developments as humanitarian emergencies and uses the framework of securitization to critically examine the discourses, practices and agents of humanitarianism.
AbrahamsenR (2005) Blair’s Africa: The politics of securitization and fear. Alternatives30(1): 55–80.
2.
AcharyaA (2001) Human security: East versus West. International Journal56(3): 442–60.
3.
AdelmanH (1982) Canada and the Indo-Chinese Refugees. Regina: Weigl Educational Associates.
4.
AlexanderD (1993) Natural Disasters. New York: Springer.
5.
AndersonM (1998) You saved my life today, but for what tomorrow: Some moral dilemmas of humanitarian aid. In: MooreJ (ed.) Hard Choices: Moral Dilemmas in Humanitarian Intervention. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 137–156.
6.
AradauC (2004a) The perverse politics of four-letter words: Risk and pity in the securitization of human trafficking. Millennium – Journal of International Studies33(2): 251–278.
7.
AradauC (2004b) Security and the democratic scene: Desecuritization and emancipation. Journal of International Relations and Development7(4): 388–413.
8.
AthukoralaPResosudarmoBP (2005) The Indian Ocean tsunami: Economic impact, disaster management and lessons. Asian Economic Paper4(1): 1–39.
9.
AxworthyL (1999) An address on human security. G-8 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Cologne, 9 June.
10.
AyoobM (2002) Humanitarian intervention and state sovereignty. International Journal of Human Rights6(1): 81–102.
11.
BalzacqT (2005) The three faces of securitization: Political agency, audience and context. European Journal of International Relations11(2): 171–201.
12.
BarnettMSnyderJ (2008) The grand strategies of humanitarianism. In: BarnettMWeissT (eds) Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 143–171.
13.
BellamyAJ (2003) Humanitarian responsibilities and interventionist claims in international society. Review of International Studies29(3): 321–340.
14.
BigoD (1994) The European internal security field: Stakes and rivalries in a newly developing area of police intervention. In: AndersonMDen BoerM (eds) Policing Across National Boundaries. London: Pinter, 161–173.
15.
BigoD (2000) When two become one: Internal and external securitizations in Europe. In: KelstrupMWilliamsM (eds) International Relations Theory and the Politics of European Integration: Power, Security and Community. London: Routledge, 142–148.
16.
BigoD (2002) Security and immigration: Toward a critique of the governmentality of unease. Alternatives27(1): 63–92.
17.
BricmontJ (2006) Humanitarian Imperialism. New York: Monthly Review Press.
18.
BuzanB (1991) People, States and Fear, 2nd edn.Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
19.
BuzanBWæverO (2003) Regions and Power: The Structure of International Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
20.
BuzanBde WildeJWæverO (1998) Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
21.
c.a.s.e. collective (2006) Critical approaches to security in Europe: A networked manifesto. Security Dialogue37(4): 443–487.
22.
ChandlerD (2001) The road to military humanitarianism: How the human rights NGOs shaped a new humanitarian agenda. Human Rights Quarterly23(3): 678–700.
23.
ChandlerD (2008) Human security: The dog that didn’t bark. Security Dialogue39(4): 427–438.
24.
ChimniBS (2000) Globalization, humanitarianism and the erosion of refugee protection. Journal of Refugee Studies13(3): 243–263.
25.
ClarkC (2010) Ottawa will fast-track Haitian adoptions, but balks at expanding immigration. The Globe and Mail, 20January.
26.
De WaalAOmaarR (1994) Can military intervention be ‘humanitarian’. Middle East Report41(2/3): 3–8.
27.
DixonRWilliamsP (2001) Tough on debt, tough on causes of debt? New Labour’s third world debt policy. British Journal of Politics and International Relations3(2): 150–172.
28.
EdkinsJ (2003) Humanitarianism, humanity, human. Journal of Human Rights2(2): 253–258.
29.
FinnemoreM (2004) The Purpose of Intervention: Changing Beliefs About the Use of Force. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
30.
FinnemoreM (2008) Paradoxes in humanitarian intervention. In: PriceR (ed.) Moral Limit and Possibility in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 197–224.
31.
FlintMGoyderH (2006) Funding the Tsunami Response. London: Tsunami Evaluation Coalition.
32.
GagnonL (2010) Extending family in a time of crisis. The Globe and Mail, 22January.
HansenLNissenbaumH (2009) Digital disaster, cyber security and the Copenhagen School. International Studies Quarterly53(4): 1155–1175.
35.
HendrieB (1989) Cross-border relief operations in Eritrea and Tigray. Disasters13(4): 351–360.
36.
HewittK (1997) Regions of Risk: A Geographical Introduction to Disasters. Harlow: Longman.
37.
HewittK (2009) The social nature of exposure, vulnerability and responses to disaster. Paper presented at the international workshop on ‘Glacier Hazards, Permafrost Hazards and GLOFs in Mountain Areas: Processes, Assessment, Prevention, Mitigation’, Vienna, 10–13 November.
38.
Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) (2007) HAP 2007 standard in humanitarian accountability and quality management, adopted by HAP on 30 January 2007. Available at: http://www.hapinternational.org/pool/files/hap-2007-standard(1).pdf (accessed 5 February 2010).
39.
HuysmansJ (2006) The Politics of Insecurity: Fear, Migration and Asylum in the EU. London: Routledge.
40.
International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), 2001. The Responsibility To Protect: Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.
JohnsonDTierneyD (2006) Failing To Win: Perceptions of Victory and Defeat in International Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
44.
KapurR (2002) Tragedy of victimization rhetoric: Resurrecting the ‘native’ subject in international/post-colonial feminist legal politics. Harvard Human Rights Journal15(1): 1–38.
45.
KingGMurrayC (2001) Rethinking human security. Political Science Quarterly116(4): 585–610.
46.
KleinN (2007) The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Toronto: Knopf Canada.
47.
McDonaldM (2008) Securitization and the construction of security. European Journal of International Relations14(4): 563–87.
48.
McFaddenR (2005) U.S. vows big rise in aid for victims of Asian disaster. New York Times, 1January.
49.
MacFarlaneNThielkingCWeissT (2004) The responsibility to protect: Is anyone interested in humanitarian intervention?Third World Quarterly25(5): 977–992.
50.
MacraeJ (1998) The death of humanitarianism? An anatomy of the attack. Disasters22(4): 309–317.
51.
MalkkiLH (1996) Speechless emissaries: Refugees, humanitarianism, and dehistoricization. Cultural Anthropology11(3): 377–404.
52.
MarenM (1997) The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity. New York: Free Press.
53.
MiddletonNO’KeefeP (1998) Disasters and Development: The Politics of Humanitarian Aid. London: Pluto.
NeocleousM (2006) From social to national security: On the fabrication of economic order. Security Dialogue37(3): 363–384.
56.
NyersP (2006) Rethinking Refugees: Beyond States of Emergency. London: Routledge.
57.
O’ConnorG (2005) Natural disasters. In: Canada, Parliament, House of Commons, Debates, 38th Parliament, 1st Session, 31 January, 1505. Ottawa: Canadian Government Publishing.
58.
ParekhB (1997) Rethinking humanitarian intervention. International Political Science Review18(1): 49–69.
59.
ParisR (2001) Human security: Paradigm shift or hot air. International Security26(2): 87–102.
60.
PellingM (2003a) The Vulnerability of Cities: Natural Disasters and Social Resilience. London: Earthscan.
61.
PellingM (2003b) Paradigms of risk. In: PellingM (ed.) Natural Disasters and Development in the Developing World. London: Routledge, 3–15.
62.
PielkeRJrRubieraJLandseaCFernandezMKleinR (2003) Hurricane vulnerability in Latin America and the Caribbean: Normalized damage and loss potentials. Natural Hazards Review4(3): 101–114.
63.
PughM (1998) Military intervention and humanitarian action: Trends and issues. Disasters22(4): 339–351.
64.
RasmussenM (2001) Reflexive security: NATO and international risk society. Millennium: Journal of International Studies30(2): 285–309.
65.
RieffD (1997) Charity on the rampage: The business of foreign aid. Foreign Affairs76(1): 132–138.
66.
RieffD (2002) A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis. New York: Simon & Schuster.
67.
RoeP (2005) Ethnic Violence and the Societal Security Dilemma. London: Routledge.
68.
RoeP (2008) Actor, audience(s) and emergency measures: Securitization and the UK’s decision to invade Iraq. Security Dialogue39(6): 615–635.
69.
RothK (2004) War in Iraq: Not a humanitarian intervention. In: Human Rights Watch (ed.) World Report 2004New York: Human Rights Watch, 13–35. Available at: http://www.hrw.org/wr2k4/download/wr2k4.pdf (accessed 26 October 2010).
70.
SamarajivaR (2005) Policy commentary: Mobilizing information and communications technology for effective disaster warning: Lessons from the 2004 tsunami. New Media and Society7(6): 731–747.
71.
SlimH (2001) Violence and humanitarianism: Moral paradox and the protection of civilians. Security Dialogue32(3): 325–339.
72.
SogukN (1999) States and Strangers: Refugees and Displacement of Statecraft. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
73.
SondorpEBornemiszaO (2005) Public health, emergencies and the humanitarian impulse. Bulletin of the World Health Organization83(3): 163–165.
StritzelH (2007) Towards a theory of securitization: Copenhagen and beyond. European Journal of International Relations13(3): 357–383.
76.
TelfordJCosgraveJ (2007) The international humanitarian system and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis. Disasters31(1): 1–28.
77.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (1994) Human Development Report. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
78.
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) (1991) What Is OCHA? United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. New York: United Nations Secretariat.
79.
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) (2009) Annual Report. New York: United Nations Secretariat.
VivianiN (1996) The Indochinese in Australia, 1975–1995. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
82.
VuoriJ (2008) Illocutionary logic and strands of securitization: Applying the theory of securitization to the study of non-democratic political orders. European Journal of International Relations14(1): 65–99.
83.
WæverO (1995) Securitization and desecuritization. In: LipschutzR (ed.) On Security. New York: Columbia University Press, 46–79.
84.
WæverOBuzanBKelstrupMLemaitreP (1993) Identity, Migration and the New Security Agenda in Europe. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
85.
WeissT (2001) Researching humanitarian intervention: Some lessons. Journal of Peace Research38(4): 419–428.
86.
WeissTCampbellK (1991) Military humanitarianism. Survival33(5): 451–465.
87.
WeissTMinearL (1995) Mercy Under Fire: War and the Global Humanitarian Community. Boulder, CO: Westview.
88.
WelshJ (2004) Taking consequences seriously: Objections to humanitarian intervention. In: WelshJ (ed.) Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 52–70.
89.
WheelerN (2000) Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
90.
WheelerN (2004) The humanitarian responsibilities of sovereignty: Explaining the development of a new norm of military intervention for humanitarian purposes in international society. In: WelshJ (ed.) Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 28–52 .
91.
WijkmanATimberlakeL (1984) Natural Disasters: Acts of God or Acts of Men. Washington, DC: Earthscan.
92.
WilkinsonC (2007) The Copenhagen School on tour in Kyrgyzstan: Is securitization theory usable outside Europe?Security Dialogue38(1): 5–25.
93.
WilliamsM (2003) Words, images, enemies: Securitization and international politics. International Studies Quarterly47(4): 511–531.
94.
WisnerBBlaikiePCannonTDavisI (2004) At Risk: Natural Disasters, People’s Vulnerability and Disasters. London: Routledge.
95.
World Food Programme (WFP) (2009) Our work. Available at: http://www.wfp.org/our-work (accessed 5 February 2010).
96.
ZallerJ (1992) The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
