'(Re-)shaping boundaries in crisis and crisis response'

The 5th bi-annual conference of the International Humanitarian Studies Association will take place at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, The Netherlands from 27 to 29 August 2018.

About the conference

Crisis and humanitarianism has always been about boundaries. The classic view of a crisis is an exceptional moment, bounded in time and space. Humanitarian action was therefore seen as a necessarily limited endeavour which has a narrow but principled focus on saving lives and alleviating suffering. Setting clear boundaries around crisis were meant to distinguish crisis from normality and legitimate extraordinary measures to accommodate its effects.

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Call for Panels

This conference invites panels that examine boundaries from all different angles, ranging from the intentions and practices of government control, international law, the ways in which people organize themselves in the face of crisis and, the rapid transformation of technological limits and the boundaries of humanitarian action. What are the new factors that are influencing the dynamics of crisis response and the dilemmas of humanitarian action? How to understand and respond to attempts by the EU to control refugee flows in and from Libya, north Africa and the Sahel? Is it possible to think of humanitarian crises as a way to move towards a uniting world with fewer boundaries?

Important dates