Agnieszka Sobocinska is Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies at Monash University, Australia.

'Volunteer development agencies like the US Peace Corps promoted altruism but were deeply enmeshed in complex relations of global power. A returned volunteer herself, Agnieszka Sobocinska incisively unravels the paradoxes of the enterprise, laying bare its intentions, operations, and consequences with balance and critical insight.' David C. Engerman, Yale University

• Introduction: Western volunteers and the rise of the humanitarian-development complex; 1. An idea for all seasons; 2. Conquering the globe; 3. Buying into the humanitarian-development complex; 4. Sentimental radicals and adventurers; 5. The publicity machine; 6. The view from the other side; 7. A little colony; 8. The intimacy of the humanitarian-development complex; 9. Resistance; 10. To hell with good intentions.

Agnieszka Sobocinska is Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies at Monash University, Australia.

'Volunteer development agencies like the US Peace Corps promoted altruism but were deeply enmeshed in complex relations of global power. A returned volunteer herself, Agnieszka Sobocinska incisively unravels the paradoxes of the enterprise, laying bare its intentions, operations, and consequences with balance and critical insight.' David C. Engerman, Yale University

• Introduction: Western volunteers and the rise of the humanitarian-development complex; 1. An idea for all seasons; 2. Conquering the globe; 3. Buying into the humanitarian-development complex; 4. Sentimental radicals and adventurers; 5. The publicity machine; 6. The view from the other side; 7. A little colony; 8. The intimacy of the humanitarian-development complex; 9. Resistance; 10. To hell with good intentions.

Agnieszka Sobocinska is Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies at Monash University, Australia.

'Volunteer development agencies like the US Peace Corps promoted altruism but were deeply enmeshed in complex relations of global power. A returned volunteer herself, Agnieszka Sobocinska incisively unravels the paradoxes of the enterprise, laying bare its intentions, operations, and consequences with balance and critical insight.' David C. Engerman, Yale University

• Introduction: Western volunteers and the rise of the humanitarian-development complex; 1. An idea for all seasons; 2. Conquering the globe; 3. Buying into the humanitarian-development complex; 4. Sentimental radicals and adventurers; 5. The publicity machine; 6. The view from the other side; 7. A little colony; 8. The intimacy of the humanitarian-development complex; 9. Resistance; 10. To hell with good intentions.