Melanie Oppenheimer – författare

The relationship between the state and the voluntary sector has changed significantly since 1948 when Beveridge’s major report, Voluntary Action, was first published. Sixty years later, a group of historians analyse and reassess the impact of Beveridge’s ideas about voluntary action for social advance in this timely volume. Using examples from the UK, Australasia and Canada, this book clearly articulates the importance and significance of Beveridge's ideas on voluntary action within an international context.With the emphasis of governments on the importance of the voluntary or 'third sector' and the development of policies and practices to enhance social capital, build civil society and engage communities, this book will be invaluable for those interested in how the third sector has evolved over time. It will be of interest to historians, social policy researchers, political theorists, economists and educationalists.

Timely, lively and unflagging in its coverage of an extraordinary range of organisations and individuals, Volunteering takes the first comprehensive look at why Australians give so much of their time for free.

In the first independent study of the League of Red Cross Societies, an interdisciplinary team of leading scholars examine its history, and how it influenced twentieth-century humanitarianism. They explore how the League evolved from 1919 to 1991 as a peacetime organisation of the Red Cross in contrast to the original wartime focus of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Investigating largely unknown, but significant actors, they shed new light on the League's activities in Southeast Asia, the Horn of Africa, Latin America and Europe through case studies focussing on its global health initiatives, the complexity of its networks in war and peace, and its role in providing relief. The authors argue that it is impossible to understand today's Red Cross and Red Crescent movement and global humanitarianism without considering the structures, expertise and training provided by the League to member National Societies from 1919 to 1991.

This book explores the ways in which non-government organisations have contributed to the reconstruction of, and care for populations in, Western European countries including but not limited to Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the World Wars.Historical research on voluntary or non-government organisations and their contribution to the reconstruction of states, communities and humanitarian assistance to civilian populations following conflicts, epidemics and disasters through the twentieth century has generally focused on non-Western European countries, except for Second World War II. The historiography suggests that it is mostly in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa that natural or man-made disasters have occurred and that these places have been the focus for humanitarian assistance. Rather, the humanitarian enterprise is viewed through the binary of the Global North/Global South, those who save and those who are saved. The chapters in this volume investigate how the Red Cross movement – the League of Red Cross Societies, the International Committee of Red Cross and individual national societies – and other voluntary organisations such as the Rockefeller Foundation and a range of other international and local non-government bodies have contributed to reconstruction in these countries at both national and local levels following times of crises such as wars, civilian upheavals and disasters.This book will appeal to scholars and students of history, humanitarian studies, international relations and social sciences. The chapters in this book were originally published as special issues in European Review of History – Revue européenne d'histoire.

For over 150 years, the Red Cross has brought succour to the world’s needy, from sick and wounded soldiers on the battlefield, to political detainees, to those suffering the effects of natural disasters. The world’s oldest and most preeminent humanitarian movement, the relevance and status of the Red Cross Movement today is as high as it has ever been.Reimagining and re-evaluating the Red Cross as a global institutional network, this volume charts the rise of the Red Cross and analyses the emergence of humanitarianism through a series of turning points, practices and myths. The contributors explore the three unique elements that make up the Red Cross Movement: the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent formerly known as the League of Red Cross Societies (both based in Geneva) and the 192 national societies. With chapters by leading scholars and researchers from Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and America, the book offers a timely account of this unique, complex and contested organisation.

When Australian soldiers returned from the First World War they were offered the chance to settle on 'land fit for heroes'. Promotional material painted a picture of prosperous farms and contented families, appealing to returned servicepeople and their families hoping for a fresh start. Yet just 20 years after the inception of these soldier settlement schemes, fewer than half of the settlers remained on their properties. In this timely book, based on recently uncovered archives, Bruce Scates and Melanie Oppenheimer map out a deeply personal history of the soldiers' struggle to transition from Anzac to farmer and provider. At its foundation lie thousands of individual life stories shaped by imperfect repatriation policies. The Last Battle examines the environmental challenges, the difficulties presented by the physical and psychological damage many soldiers had sustained during the war, and the vital roles of women and children.