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Condemned to Repeat?:

The Paradox of Humanitarian Action
Front Cover
4 Reviews
Cornell University Press, 2002 - Political Science - 282 pages

Humanitarian groups have failed, Fiona Terry believes, to face up to the core paradox of their activity: humanitarian action aims to alleviate suffering, but by inadvertently sustaining conflict it potentially prolongs suffering. In Condemned to Repeat?, Terry examines the side-effects of intervention by aid organizations and points out the need to acknowledge the political consequences of the choice to give aid. The author makes the controversial claim that aid agencies act as though the initial decision to supply aid satisfies any need for ethical discussion and are often blind to the moral quandaries of aid. Terry focuses on four historically relevant cases: Rwandan camps in Zaire, Afghan camps in Pakistan, Salvadoran and Nicaraguan camps in Honduras, and Cambodian camps in Thailand.

Terry was the head of the French section of Medecins sans frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) when it withdrew from the Rwandan refugee camps in Zaire because aid intended for refugees actually strengthened those responsible for perpetrating genocide. This book contains documents from the former Rwandan army and government that were found in the refugee camps after they were attacked in late 1996. This material illustrates how combatants manipulate humanitarian action to their benefit. Condemned to Repeat? makes clear that the paradox of aid demands immediate attention by organizations and governments around the world. The author stresses that, if international agencies are to meet the needs of populations in crisis, their organizational behavior must adjust to the wider political and socioeconomic contexts in which aid occurs.

  

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User Review - Flag as inappropriate

Ms. Terry has done a wonderful and courageous thing by making her experience public. Her honest commitment to problem-solving leads her to dig deep than the usual cliches about crisis zones. Anyone who has the urge to "help" should read this book to think deeply about what helps. Her historical perspective shows that these conflicts aren't a new problem, but have always been a dimension of human society. Yet the natural force of local power struggles is magnified when outside rescuers allow themselves to be manipulated by the combatants. Cutting off aid when it goes to combatants is a difficult but necessary step that administrators understandably shrink from.
Loretta Breuning
 

Review: Condemned to Repeat?: The Paradox of Humanitarian Action

User Review  - Josh - Goodreads

How sometimes humanitarian efforts end up implictly supporting the creators of the very crises they have charged themselves with stopping. Read full review

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Contents

Humanitarian Action and Responsibility
17
The Afghan Refugee Camps in Pakistan
55
The Nicaraguan and Salvadoran Refugee Camps in Honduras
83
The Cambodian Refugee Camps in Thailand
114
The Rwandan Refugee Camps in Zaire
155
Humanitarian Action in a SecondBest World
216
Documents from the Rwandan Refugee Camps
247
Index
277
Copyright

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References from web pages

JSTOR: Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action
Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action. By Fiona Terry. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002. 282p. $42.50 cloth, $19.95 paper. ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=1537-5927(200309)1%3A3%3C656%3ACTRTPO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0

212 212..224
Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action. By Fiona Terry. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2002. xiv+282 pp. $19.95. ...
jrs.oxfordjournals.org/ cgi/ reprint/ 16/ 2/ 212.pdf

MSF-USA: Ideas & Opinions from MSF - Fiona Terry
Fiona Terry's book Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action can be obtained at your favorite bookstore, or through Cornell University Press. ...
www.doctorswithoutborders.org/ publications/ ideas/ opinion_fionaterry.cfm

MSF Around the World
Information dated 28.10.2002. MSF book "Condemned to repeat?: The paradox of humanitarian action". Fiona Terry, a director of research for Médecins Sans ...
www.msf.org/ content/ page.cfm?articleid=AA59FB5F-E03D-4DF1-A5A2F519CB9DC873

ingentaconnect Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action
Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action Fiona Terry Ithaca and London Cornell University Press 2002 xiv + 282 $19.95 0 8014 8796 X By Fiona ...
www.ingentaconnect.com/ content/ oup/ refuge/ 2003/ 00000016/ 00000002/ art00212;jsessionid=x00vsm4d5r3e.alice?format=print

Grawemeyer Award- Improving World Order Current Winner
However well intentioned, humanitarian aid can be misused, Terry warns in her 2002 book, “Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action” (Cornell ...
www.grawemeyer.org/ worldorder/ previous/ 06.html

Condemned to Repeat — Social Edge
Fiona Terry, Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action, ... Fiona Terry, Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action, Free Press ...
www.socialedge.org/ resources/ edge-wiki/ CondemnedToRepeat

Perspectives on Political Science: Terry, Fiona Condemned to ...
Terry, Fiona Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action.(Book Review). Heinze, Eric A. Ithaca, ny: Cornell University Press 282 pp., $19.55, ...
findarticles.com/ p/ articles/ mi_hb3341/ is_200303/ ai_n15071490/ print

The Left Atrium
CMAJ • OCT. 14, 2003; 169 (8). 815. © 2003 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors. W. rapping one’s mind around the. thesis of Fiona Terry’s Con- ...
www.cmaj.ca/ cgi/ reprint/ 169/ 8/ 815.pdf

Late Night Live - 28 April 2003 - The Paradox of Humanitarian Action
Fiona Terry's recently published book "Condemned to Repeat?" explores questions about the negative consequences that can result from well-intentioned ...
www.abc.net.au/ rn/ latenightlive/ stories/ 2003/ 841640.htm

About the author (2002)

Fiona Terry has spent most of the last 20 years involved in humanitarian operations in different parts of the world, including northern Iraq, Somalia, the Great Lakes region of Africa, Liberia and Sudan. She was a research director for Médecins Sans Frontières in Paris from 2000 to 2003 working on North Korea, Sierra Leone and Angola, before spending three years with the ICRC in Myanmar. She holds a Ph.D. in international relations and political science from the Australian National University.

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