World development: an introduction edited by PRODOMOS PANAYIOTOPOULOS and GAVIN CAPPS. (London: Pluto Press, 2001. ISBN 0 7453 1402 3, pp. 288, p/bk). Globalization and development studies: challenges for the 21st century edited by FRANS J. SCHUURMAN. (London: Sage, 2001. ISBN 0 7619 7266 8, pp. 212, p/bk). Development theory: deconstructions/reconstructions by JAN NEDERVEEN PIETERSE. (London: Sage, 2001. ISBN 0 7619 5292 6, pp. 195, p/bk)

✍ Scribed by Emma Harris-Curtis

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 37 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0954-1748
• DOI: 10.1002/jid.898

✦ Synopsis

exaggerated criticisms of aid agencies' of Alex de Waal: while acknowledging as 'very reasonable' de Waal's critique of the failures of aid agencies to take sufficient account of political realities and to act in a principled manner on human rights issues, de Waal 'loses credibility . . . in speculating that such failures simply reflect an attempt to maximise income'. Vaux rejects this view, implying that such pressures can be fought if agencies have the will to do so. Humanitarian aid agencies retain a strong capacity to make a life-saving difference if they are prepared to be self-reflective and 'grapple with the problem of making aid a genuine service to its target group'.

Aid agency staff will find many parallels with their own work in the debates and dilemmas that Vaux describes. I found it fascinating to compare Vaux's experience of Kosovo and Afghanistan with my own experience of working on the same crises from the perspective of a different agency, and the uncomfortable dilemmas thrown up by the other case studies have a high degree of relevance for many emergency contexts. For the interested outsider, the book will be a helpful and illuminating survey of the realities and issues faced by humanitarian NGOs, and the stories hidden behind television news stories.

For me, the book remains most challenging at a personal level: can I, as an aid worker, have the courage to examine my own hidden agenda, and where I uncover selfish or hidden motivations, prejudices or allegiances, can these be overcome in order to better meet the actual needs of those whom I claim to serve, in a truly humanitarian spirit? Vaux's proposed solution-an imaginative framework based around the need to combat the 'seven deadly sins of humanitarian aid' will not satisfy everyone. Inevitably, for such a personal book, it is a personal solution. But the question is necessary, and this book presents it in compelling fashion.