Abstract

Among the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit outcomes, localisation of humanitarian aid has received the greatest amount of attention. Localisation is described as giving more support to national first respondents, making humanitarian aid ‘as local as possible, as international as necessary’. Despite the good intentions, localisation presents a biased understanding of the local and its agency in transforming humanitarianism. Not only is localisation a failed attempt to reconfigure the international humanitarian system power relations, dominated by Western actors, but also it glosses over the crucial role of the South in moulding the humanitarian action norm. In order to address the latter, the paper reviews the history of humanitarian action in East Asia as a case of norm circulation, showing how the region’s agency was essential to accommodate the foundations of liberal humanitarianism during the Cold War and, in the last two decades, to contest them. I argue that instead of localisation, a process of deglobalisation is taking shape in the region, based on increased national ownership of crisis response, privileging reciprocal, bilateral support over multilateral action, and legitimating the rejection of unnecessary support. These changes are pushing traditional humanitarian actors to rethink their practices, bringing much-needed change but also challenges.

摘要

在 2016 年世界人道主义峰会成果中，人道主义援助的本地化受到了最多的关注。本地化被描述为为国内第一响应者提供更多支持，使人道主义援助“尽可能本地化，必要时国际化”。尽管本意是好的，但本地化表现出对本地及其在改变人道主义方面的作用的有偏见的理解。本土化不仅是重新配置由西方行为者主导的国际人道主义体系权力关系的失败尝试，而且它掩盖了南方在塑造人道主义行动规范方面的关键作用。为了解决后者，本文以规范流通为例，回顾了东亚人道主义行动的历史，展示了该地区的机构如何在冷战期间适应自由人道主义的基础以及在过去的二十年中对它们进行竞争至关重要。我认为，该地区正在形成去全球化进程，而不是本地化，其基础是增加国家对危机应对的自主权，给予互惠、双边支持而非多边行动，并使拒绝不必要的支持合法化。这些变化正在推动传统的人道主义行动者重新思考他们的做法，带来急需的变化，但也带来了挑战。将互惠的双边支持置于多边行动之上，并使拒绝不必要的支持合法化。这些变化正在推动传统的人道主义行动者重新思考他们的做法，带来急需的变化，但也带来了挑战。将互惠的双边支持置于多边行动之上，并使拒绝不必要的支持合法化。这些变化正在推动传统的人道主义行动者重新思考他们的做法，带来急需的变化，但也带来了挑战。