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Marriage, Zoe (2006) Not Breaking the Rules. Not Playing the Game. International Assistance to Countries at War. London: Hurst and Co..

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Abstract

Why do humanitarian principles, human rights and other ‘rules’ espoused by aid organisations apparently fail to influence the reality of assistance delivery, whilst reality does not dint these objectives? Not breaking the rules, not playing the game investigates the international assistance given in countries at war. Presenting evidence from Sierra Leone, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan, it finds that appeal to a morality based on rights and principles allows aid staff to justify their operational weaknesses by blaming or discrediting others. The terminology used casts political and military activity as illegitimate, forestalling dialogue, limiting aid organisations’ perception of the contexts in which they work, and ultimately questioning the sincerity of the assistance. The book concludes that people in countries at war are not ‘breaking the rules’ of assistance – as assistance is not meaningfully ‘ruled’ by rights or principles – they are more fundamentally ‘not playing the game’.

Item Type: Authored Books
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > Department of Development Studies
Legacy Departments > Faculty of Law and Social Sciences > Department of Development Studies
ISBN: 9781850658139
Date Deposited: 20 Jun 2008 15:38
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/3657

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