Organizing Disaster

Adam Rostis, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

Rostis takes a postcolonial theoretical stance and includes a postcolonial analysis of the Red Cross and Medicins sans Frontieres as case studies in the emergence of organized global humanitarianism. By incorporating the discourse of humanitarianism into stakeholder theory and “business and society” research, he expands his investigation by problematizing what has been up to now an unproblematic conceptualization of the nonprofit organization as an unquestionable good. He elaborates on the discourse of humanitarianism demonstrating some counterintuitive behaviors of these two well-known humanitarianism organizations. He cites the impetus for his book as twofold: first, the need to understand the paradoxical behavior of humanitarian organizations that he observed while working for the International Red Cross in Africa; and, second, the lack of coverage by scholars of the humanitarian organization itself. He characterizes humanitarian responses as frequently late in coming and of being selective. While humanitarian aid is now more organized, funded, and globalized, he finds that the need to alleviate suffering can be trumped by the need to save political capital, economic resources and staff for areas of the world that are more central to national security interests.

• 1. Introduction and Outline of the Book2. Methodology3. Problematizing Humanitarianism 4. The Humanitarian Archive - The ICRC in Africa 5. MSF 6. Discussion 7. Conclusion