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In 2015 Sweden experienced a large increase in the number of asylum-seekers arriving in the country. Among them were 35,000 unaccompanied minors. As a response, a rollback of migrant rights was introduced beginning in November that year. This study examines the experiences of people who volunteered as guardians/foster homes for unaccompanied minors and subsequently followed them through the asylum systems during this period. The research is based on 12 in-depth interviews with guardians/foster parents. Three major themes are identified within the interview data: Unreliable systems/injustice, Going above and beyond and (Unexpected) solidarity. The findings suggest that Sweden’s adoption of much harsher migration policies made the work of guardians/foster homes increasingly difficult to carry out to a level that provided the necessary support for these children. The guardians/foster parents also found the asylum systems to be untrustworthy and unjust to a point where the unaccompanied minors’ rights were not upheld. Affectionate relationships with the unaccompanied minors and acts of solidarity by persons working within the systems and in civil society were counter-weights providing guardians/foster parents with energy and hope.

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Complex humanitarian emergencies have posed a challenge for the ethical project behind traditional humanitarianism. The humanitarian action field is under permanent scrutiny over its motivations, efficiency and impact. Altruism, compassion, humanity and other ethical values have supported the development of contemporary humanitarianism, but something is missing. This thesis is an attempt to understand the roots of the ethical project behind humanitarianism by analysing the concept of vulnerability through the lens of different theoretical frameworks that can add new perspectives with the objective of proposing a new interpretation in accordance to the context of a contemporary complex humanitarian emergency: Venezuela.

Child sponsorship has long been a contentious topic since its inception and subsequent mainstay as one of the key models in development for acquiring funds. As a tool for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), it is a popular and therefore competitive practice that requires able communications that simultaneously can promote sponsorship and maintain the ethical ideals of the organisation. The aim of this paper is to develop further understanding and increased knowledge of how Plan International, a prominent NGO and a proponent of the practice, present and communicate child sponsorship. Within the confines of a case study, the paper sets out to establish the methods, purposes and considerations that Plan International have when they communicate and market child sponsorship, one of their primary ways of accruing funds and thus mobilising action. Drawing on a triangulation of collected empirical data, and under a defined theoretical framework that advocates a post-humanitarianism approach, this thesis makes tentative conclusions that whilst Plan International are making strides to modernise their child sponsorship approach they are at the same time encountering continued challenges of representation, framing and strategizing their message.

This dissertation contributes to literature on postwar philanthropy and the Franco-American relationship. It examines the private voluntary relief organization, American Aid to France (AAF), which provided emergency supplies, rehabilitative services, and assisted in the reconstruction of France following the Second World War. Unlike other devastated European countries, Charles de Gaulle did not invite the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) to host a program, which limited France’s participation in the transnational relief movement of the immediate postwar period and allowed AAF to become the principal foreign private voluntary aid agency operating in Liberated France. From 1944 to 1956, AAF asserted that its assistance reflected the strength of the Franco-American alliance, and kinship felt between two countries with a shared history of liberal revolution and republicanism. AAF’s statements expressing “goodwill” and “historical friendship” towards France rapidly began to assume a more political tone as Cold War tensions intensified. From 1947 onward, AAF became increasingly outspoken in its support for capitalism, democracy, and international cooperation. These statements were crafted for, and appealed to, U.S. authorities who believed France was the key to containing communism in Europe. In reality, AAF’s main concern was redressing the destruction of Normandy caused by Allied bombing campaigns, and the organization showed no hesitation to work with mayors from across the political spectrum in devastated French communities to achieve this goal. AAF’s private voluntary status shielded the organization from French criticisms of Americanization chiefly aimed at the Marshall Plan. This dissertation demonstrates that AAF was part of an independent, robust private voluntary relief sphere that contributed to Europe’s recovery, and helped citizens in the United States and France come to terms with the transition from war to peace. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation contributes to literature on postwar philanthropy and Franco-American relations. It examines American Aid to France (AAF), one of hundreds of U.S. private voluntary relief organizations founded during the Second World War to help devastated civilians. Operating from 1944 to 1956, AAF’s efforts to provide emergency supplies, rehabilitative services, and assist in the reconstruction of Liberated France was a significant private affirmation of the Franco-American alliance during a period of increasingly tense international relations. Private voluntary relief organizations have been overlooked in scholarship in favour of larger agencies such as the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), which has resulted in a considerable emphasis on transnationalism in the literature on postwar relief. Examining Franco-American relations through the prism of AAF’s relief reveals that a dynamic alternative network of private assistance, which operated firmly outside of the transnational relief movement, contributed in meaningful ways to France’s recovery.

This study investigates the Somalian diaspora in Denmark, contributing to existingliterature on diaspora humanitarianism with a Danish-Somalian perspective. It furtherenhances an understanding of how the diaspora navigates a Somalian social support systemand introduces an understudied theoretical framework combining hope, mobility anddiaspora. The aim of the study is to understand how and why the Somalian diaspora inDenmark engages in humanitarian work in Somalia. Through interviews and an analyticalframework of collective memories and hope, it explores the practices and culturalunderstandings within the Danish-Somalian diaspora, related to their humanitarian actionsin Somalia. The humanitarian actions are provided through (social) remittances distributedthrough informal systems of kinship and clan, with a focus of helping fellow Somalians.The findings indicate that a strong connection and sense of moral obligation to Somalia,along with hope for Somalia’s future and the possibility of a return, drive the diasporashumanitarian efforts.

Thesis advisor: Devin O. Pendas / This dissertation assesses the Vietnam War’s effect on the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and its relationship with the United States in the 1960s. In the name of alliance solidarity, the West German government provided economic, technical, and humanitarian assistance to South Vietnam. The Federal Republic would have quietly continued this support and thought little more about Vietnam if not for President Lyndon B. Johnson’s mounting demands that Bonn share more of the burden of the defense of the so-called “Free World.” In the most dramatic example of this effort, Johnson and his advisers attempted in late 1965 to pressure Chancellor Ludwig Erhard into sending West German support troops to Vietnam. Erhard ruled out sending military personnel, but the episode – combined with a series of foreign policy and economic failures – led to his resignation in November 1966. At the heart of this setback in West German-U.S. relations was a dispute over the Federal Republic’s place in the world. West German leaders largely agreed that it was only a matter of time before the Federal Republic got out from under the shadow of the Third Reich and returned to the world stage, but they disagreed about how this goal could best be achieved. By comparison, the Johnson administration had a clear vision for the Federal Republic’s return to the world stage. Looking to co-opt German economic power to maintain American hegemony around the world, Johnson expected Bonn to play the role of America’s junior partner. Although Erhard proved incapable of filling the role intended by Johnson, he helped to establish the Federal Republic’s characteristic political culture, combining military reluctance with a strong preference for economic stability. After Erhard’s resignation, Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger and his Vice-Chancellor, Willy Brandt, established a genuine and productive partnership with the United States, even as they made the limits of their solidarity clear. Like the government, West German civil society struggled to come to terms with the Federal Republic’s evolving place in the world. This dissertation shows that "regular" Germans' grappling with the Vietnam War was linked to their attempt to define the Federal Republic’s place in the world and, perhaps even, early efforts to come to terms with their collective responsibility for the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes. For the German Red Cross, the West German Catholic and Protestant churches, and private "pacifist" organizations like Hilfsaktion Vietnam, humanitarianism and human rights was an important outlet for this endeavor. The West German government, for its part, learned that it could employ the language of humanitarianism and human rights to distance itself from the most controversial or morally dubious parts of American foreign policy without sacrificing its formal alliance with the United States. In the late 1960s, then, government pragmatism, civil society interests, and public (moral) outrage converged to bring humanitarianism and human rights to the forefront of the Federal Republic of Germany. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History.

This assessment addresses the intervention of intrastate conflict through the coordination of humanitarian aid and military force. The coordination, known as humanitarian intervention, dates back to the philosophy of Hugo Grotius and the debate of the Just War doctrine. Through the evolution of international law and the concept of sovereignty, justification of intervention continued to develop though the establishment of the United Nations Charter. Several moral, legal and political debates that formed in early philosophies persist through the implementation of humanitarian intervention in modern warfare. The historical background and of philosophical challenges of humanitarian intervention are reflected in recent cases studies such as the conflicts in Somalia, former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. With the consideration of this assessment, one can conclude the necessary conditions needed for a successful humanitarian intervention. In the twenty-first century, a time when weapons range from nuclear arms to homemade explosives and when political instability endangers an interconnected international community, there exists a need for adaptation to any given threat. Humanitarian intervention is one possible solution to redress human rights violations and maintain international peace and security.

This thesis looks at a variety of stakeholders and how they inform the conversations around disasters and disaster sites. In particular it focuses on the way knowledge frameworks of different actors informs this dialogue and defines the nature of their response. The thesis argues that this has an implication for debates on democracy, governance and citizenship. The thesis looks at four sets of actors: individuals confronting and coping with the everydayness of disasters.; the states of Gujarat and Orissa in India which innovate in the face of disasters to either create a techno-managerial response and institute different methodologies or use the existing structures to embed themselves further and perpetuate the poverty and disaster industry; the Christian and secular humanitarian groups: the former make a transition from charity to rights discourse while intervening in disasters. The latter focus on building methodologies which institute certain norms of responding to disasters and catering to those it considers as more vulnerable when disaster strikes. The thesis finally turns its attention to the response of four Hindu groups who draw on civilizational categories to engage with issues of pain, suffering, healing. Each stakeholder, the thesis argues, in articulating its response to disasters, presents a 'counter model' or at least a complementary understanding of how to think and respond to disasters. This plurality of engagement by questioning the preconceived frameworks adds not just to the democratic imagination but also to the debates on what constitutes governance and citizenship. Methodologically, the thesis is an ethnographic exploration located in two sites in India: Gujarat and Orissa. It keeps storytelling, ethnography, analysis, policy documents together and tries to show that they become a weave in disaster studies.