Civil Wars and the Dialectic of Humanitarianism, 1914–1949

This response to Robert Gerwarth and Gwendal Piégais’s special issue on humanitarianism and civil wars in Europe has three parts. First, it aims to situate the authors’ findings in the broader context of what might be termed the ‘dialectic of humanitarianism’ – namely the reciprocal tendency of the violence of war, and notably civil war, and the mobilisation of humanitarian aid for its victims, to reinforce each other. Second, it considers in more detail some of the implications of the findings of all of the authors on the specific challenges posed by civil wars for ‘humanitarianism’ and for the ways in which we might write the history of the latter in the future. Finally, it reflects briefly on one key aspect of that history, namely the politicisation of humanitarian aid.