Barnett,
Michael. "UNHCR and the Evolution of Humanitarianism.†Annual Meeting of
the International Studies Association , Montreal (03 July 2004). Access via
<http://archive.allacademic.com/publication/isa_index.php>
"This
paper examines the origins and evolution of the UNHCR's core goals. I open by
comparing two theories for the origins and evolution of UNHCR's goals:
environmental and sociological. Environmental models posit external forces,
including state pressures and global culture. Organizational models posit
internally-directed change, including adaptation and learning. I suggest that
to understand UNHCR's evolving interests requires a consideration of how it is
that this international organization that lacks much relative autonomy responds
to environmental pressures and resource constraints, and that these
environmental factors as they are mediated by UNHCR staff represents a good
predictor of the direction and content of its organizational interests. Specifically,
the content and drift of UNHCR's interests have been generally in the direction
of what powerful states want and a global culture that orients actors toward
building responsible states. I demonstrate these changing organizational
interests in the context of the transforming the meaning and practice of
humanitarianism at UNHCR. Whereas once UNHCR defined humanitarianism as respect
for state sovereignty and the principle of non-interference, over the last few
decades it includes the involvement in the internal affairs of states. This
humanitarianism, though, arguably represents a stealth form of containment that
potentially violates refugee rights. This distinct possibility is traced
through the organization's policies on repatriation, internally-displaced
peoples, and reintegration."
