[E-rundbrief] Info 399 - Relief- and Reconstruction Complex

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 399 - Walden Bello (Focus on Global South/ 
Thailand): The Rise of the Relief- and Reconstruction Complex. (Extract)

Bad Ischl, 28.5.2006

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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The Rise of the Relief- and Reconstruction Complex

Walden Bello

(This article first appeared in the Journal of International Affairs, 
Spring/Summer 2006, vol. 59, no. 2.)

Extract (Introduction)

Massive infrastructure damage and great social dislocation have been 
common consequences of natural disasters and social disasters like 
wars. Up until a few years ago, the aims of relief and reconstruction 
efforts were fa irly simple: immediate physical relief of victims, 
reduction of social dislocation, restoration of a functioning social 
organization and reparation of physical infrastructure. In major 
disasters or wars, international act ors were central players-most 
prominently United Nations agencies and the Red Cross Movement.

In recent years, however, the objectives of both disaster relief and 
post-conflict reconstruction have become more complex. Strategic 
considerations have become more prevalent in military-led disaster 
relief operations. Post-disaster and post-conflict reconstruction 
planning and  implementation are increasingly influenced by 
neoliberal market economics. A new militant  humanitarianism infuses 
not only post-conflict reconstruction work but , in a number of 
cases, has  itself helped to precipitate conflicts.

Disaster relief and post-conflict reconstruction have thus become 
increasingly intertwined, so that  it is difficult to understand the 
dynamics of one arena without looking at the other. This is all the 
more true since the same set of actors now dominate both arenas: the 
U.S. military-political  command, the World Bank, corporate 
contractors and humanitarian and development non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs). Humanitarian missions led by the United Nations 
and Red  Cross are a thing of the past, though these players continue 
to participate in relief and  reconstruction work along, of course, 
with national governments. The new establishment in post- dis aster 
and post-conflict reconstruction is what will be termed here the 
"relief and reconstruction  complex" (RRC). Power structures develop 
legitimating ideologies, and accompanying the rise of  the RRC is a 
formulaic dis course that is built on appeals to national and 
international security,  neoliberal economics and a burgeoning, 
militant "rights-based humanitarianism"...

From:  FOCUS ON TRADE , NUMBER 119, JUNE 2006

Full text: http://www.focusweb.org/content/view/935/29/

Focus on the Global South
CUSRI, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok,Thailand
Ph: (66 2) 2187365
Fax: (66 2) 2559976
http://www.focusweb.org

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