The limits of humanitarianism

RESEARCH PROJECT

The limits of humanitarianism

Politics, crisis, and reform in the era of climate change

(November 2023 – May 2025)

Led by Alameda associates Eleanor Davey and Fernando Espada, in collaboration with Nina Potarska and Andrii Bahinskyi, this research examined the encounter of the humanitarian system with climate change. Combining historical and political-economy approaches, the project shifted away from moral, market-based, and technical perspectives to explore the complexities of reform in the humanitarian system. Structured around two themes, ‘ordering crisis’ and ‘containing politics’, with a focus on war in Ukraine, the project incorporated workshops, presentations, and online activities, publishing a range of writing for different audiences. The research critically engaged with other approaches that humanitarian actors could consider in the face of climate change.

RESEARCH APPROACH

The project adopts a distinctive approach to humanitarian reform, aiming to denaturalize and critique some of its underlying dynamics. It seeks to provide a shared agenda for those within and outside the humanitarian system, addressing fundamental critiques amid the uncertainties posed by climate change. The focus on “ordering crisis” and “containing politics” themes sheds light on the limits that the humanitarian system is encountering in defining its approach to the climate crisis, and their broader implications.

Containing Politics

Political Dynamics and Historical Shifts: Explores politics in diagnostic processes shaping humanitarian reform, spanning from the 1970s to present, considering ecological instability and shifts in internationalist engagement.
Agendas in Reform: Investigates agenda definition during reform, focusing on how this shapes humanitarian engagements and the role of differing attitudes to politics.
Natural World’s Impact on Climate Change Response: Examines the place of the natural world in humanitarian approaches, assessing its influence on responses to climate change.
Actor Roles and Political Boundaries: Explores how actors crossing political boundaries impact political attitudes within the humanitarian system, studying instances of increased political engagement and the reactions they provoke.
Pattern Tracing for Alternative Pathways: Analyses patterns in containing politics, drawing from diverse experiences to understand dominant actors’ power dynamics, offering insights for alternative pathways today.

Ordering crisis

Liberal Ordering: Analyses how liberal ordering frames crisis definitions, influencing humanitarian organisations’ understanding, legitimacy, and response strategies, int he context of the impact of climate change on the international liberal order.
Social and Political Nature of Crisis: Examines the socially and politically constructed nature of crisis, avoiding technocratic approaches, and their semantic exhaustion, transforming crises into permanent states that demand management.
Natural World’s Role in Crisis Response: Recognizes the central role of the natural world in human life systems during crises, exploring how its interdependence is integrated or marginalised in the defence of life by various actors within and beyond the formal humanitarian system.
Future Perspectives on Crisis: Interrogates the meaning and application of crisis amid intensifying climate change, moving away from liberal ordering towards alternative understandings and approaches.
Research Design and Practical Implications: Situates rhetorical framings of humanitarian crisis in wider theoretical and political debates, connecting the analysis with crisis response and management practices.

RESEARCHERS

Eleanor Davey, Fernando Espada, Nina Potarska, Andrii Bahinskyi

LATEST UPDATES

DOSSIER

Containing Politics

This dossier brings together a diverse and incisive group of thinkers to interrogate the humanitarian system’s enduring paradox: its claim to neutrality versus its deeply political reality. Framed by Eleanor Davey’s introduction, the collection revisits key moments of reform from the 1970s to the 1990s, showing how political choices are often disguised as technical adjustments that insulate dominant power structures. Contributors such as Mark Duffield, Rahmane Idrissa, and Mandisa Mbali expose how humanitarianism has shifted from saving lives to regulating death, misunderstood grassroots movements, and masked racialised violence. Čarna Brković and collaborators reveal how Yugoslavia’s non-aligned interventions challenged Western humanitarian orthodoxy, while Pamela McElwee and Jan Eliasson interrogate the evolution of environmental and normative frameworks.

DOSSIER

ORDERING CRISIS

WEBINAR

The Limits of Humanitarianism: Politics, Crisis and Reform in the Era of Climate Change

As the project came to a close, we hosted a webinar on 24 April 2025 to reflect on how the sector is navigating a moment of profound uncertainty. Speakers Andrii Bahinskyi, Eleanor Davey, Fernando Espada, and Nina Potarska shared insights from the project, which has brought together a diverse group of authors and contributors. The conversation drew on the themes explored across the project’s essays and reports, which remain available on the project website.

ЗВІТ

Україна: війна, зміна клімату та обмеження гуманітарної системи

Війна в Україні спричинила глибоку гуманітарну та екологічну кризу, оголивши глибокий взаємозв’язок між збройним конфліктом, руйнуванням довкілля та глобальною продовольчою безпекою. У своєму останньому звіті Андрій Багінський та Ніна Потарська аналізують, як спричинені війною викиди CO₂, руйнування екосистем та порушення критично важливого сільськогосподарського виробництва створили нові фактори вразливості, що впливають на мільйони людей в Україні та за її межами. Дослідження також критикує жорсткі структури міжнародної гуманітарної допомоги, яка часто надходить із готовими рішеннями, що не можуть бути адаптовані до реалій на місцях.

REPORT

Ukraine: war, climate change and the limitations of the humanitarian system

The war in Ukraine has triggered a profound humanitarian and environmental crisis, exposing the deep interconnections between armed conflict, ecological destruction, and global food insecurity. In their latest report, Andrii Bahinskyi and Nina Potarska analyse how war-induced CO₂ emissions, ecosystem devastation, and the disruption of critical agricultural production have created new vulnerabilities, affecting millions within and beyond Ukraine’s borders. The study also critiques the rigid structures of international humanitarian aid, which often arrive with prepackaged solutions that fail to adapt to the realities on the ground.

REPORT

A Critical Reflection on Humanitarian Reform – Past, Present, Future

The report led by Eleanor Davey captures vital insights from a workshop that brought together humanitarian reformers, scholars, and sector leaders to dissect the evolving landscape of reform. With an eye toward the complex interplay between climate change, geopolitics, and structural limitations, it offers a nuanced examination of the barriers that persist within humanitarian practices. The report traces the roots of today’s reform efforts, questioning whether entrenched structures can adapt to a world of increasing crises and identifying areas where systemic constraints and organisational inertia often thwart meaningful change.

WORKSHOP

Ukraine: war, climate change and limitations of humanitarian system

The workshop was led by Nina Potarska and Andrii Bahinskyi, and aimed to look at the Russian-Ukrainian war in the context of climate change and the limitations of the humanitarian system in responding to military action. The event brought together representatives of Ukrainian civil society, international organizations operating in Ukraine, environmental and social experts, and representatives of the academic community.

WORKSHOP - PART II

HUMANITARIAN REFORM

This was the second part of the critical reflection on humanitarian reform. The first session (“the will”) explored claims related to the willingness to undertake called-for reforms, focusing on the influence of geopolitics and vested interests. The second session (“the way”) considered claims related to the ways forward, looking first at the available bandwidth for reform and then at the current ability to imagine alternatives as the system confronts the climate crisis.

ESSAY

When the world of emergency met the climate crisis is the latest publication of Eleanor Davey and Fernando Espada. The essay discusses the ineffectiveness and inequalities in the global response to crises, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the Gaza conflict. The authors analyse the colonialism inherent in the humanitarian system, the failure to enact substantial reforms, and how this transformation is taking place in relation to the climate crisis.

* The views expressed in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Save the Children or any other organisation.

WORKSHOP - PART I

HUMANITARIAN REFORM

The workshop led by Eleanor Davey and Fernando Espada aims to create a space for critical reflection on current humanitarian reform, by bringing together people currently involved in reform initiatives, leaders of past reform efforts, and scholars of humanitarianism and international affairs. The objectives of the discussions are to: i. contribute to sectoral memory and learning about humanitarian reform; ii. inform approaches to current reform strategies and/or initiatives; and iii. identify potential avenues for research on the past and present of humanitarian reform.

FELLOW TALKS

Eleanor Davey and Fernando Espada present the research project funded by Alameda on the practices, limits, history and prospects of reform of the humanitarian system in the era of climate change. During the session, the project co-leads reflect on the key themes of the project (containing politics and ordering crisis) and the relevance of this research to rethink collective responses to the challenges of our times.