*Originally published in 2022 and preserved as part of our archive project.Get E-International Relations delivered to your inbox, free of charge. As you sign up, consider becoming a paid subscriber to support our work.

The Western media is full of discussion concerning the different forms of assistance that governments, organisations and individuals can provide for the Ukraine. This extends from their governments’ sponsoring and shipping of military equipment, to the subsidisation of flat owners to provide accommodation for refugees fleeing the war-torn region. Much of this discussion uses the language of humanitarianism to distinguish some forms of aid from others. However, the use of the term ‘humanitarian’ to provide aid in a conflict zone is often misleading and blind to the consequences of aid and its impact. It is clear that humanitarian aid for someone or something is instrumental and selective, rather than humanitarian per se. This article argues that current aid discourses break with universalist understandings of humanitarianism and, more importantly, that humanitarian aid can be a factor in the internationalisation of the conflict.

Humanitarianism was historically based on a universalist understanding of aid on the basis of needs alone. When Henry Dunant founded the Red Cross, following the slaughter of the Battle of Solferino in 1859, it was on the principle of aiding any solider regardless of which side they were on. The connection between humanitarian aid and militarism was clear. Soldiers were patched up so they could continue fighting. What........

© E-International