A01=Shai M Dromi
activism
activists
alternatives
arc
armed conflict
Author_Shai M Dromi
Calvinism
Category=JHB
Category=JKSN1
Category=NHD
Category=QRMB33
crescent movement
cultural studies
disaster relief
emergency assistance
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethics
historical development
history
humanitarian
humanitarianism
international
morality
morals
ngo sector
non profit
nongovernmental organizations
policy makers
politics
preparedness education
Red Cross
religion
sociology
Product details
- ISBN 9780226680101
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 29 Jan 2020
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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From Lake Chad to Iraq, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) provide relief around the globe, and their scope is growing every year. Policymakers and activists often assume that humanitarian aid is best provided by these organizations, which are generally seen as impartial and neutral. In Above the Fray, Shai M. Dromi investigates why the international community overwhelmingly trusts humanitarian NGOs by looking at the historical development of their culture. With a particular focus on the Red Cross, Dromi reveals that NGOs arose because of the efforts of orthodox Calvinists, demonstrating for the first time the origins of the unusual moral culture that has supported NGOs for the past 150 years.
Drawing on archival research, Dromi traces the genesis of the Red Cross to a Calvinist movement working in mid-nineteenth-century Geneva. He shows how global humanitarian policies emerged from the Red Cross founding members' faith that an international volunteer program not beholden to the state was the only ethical way to provide relief to victims of armed conflict. By illustrating how Calvinism shaped the humanitarian field, Dromi argues for the key role belief systems play in establishing social fields and institutions. Ultimately, Dromi shows the immeasurable social good that NGOs have achieved, but also points to their limitations and suggests that alternative models of humanitarian relief need to be considered.
Shai Dromi is a college fellow in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University.
