Raphael Gorgeu’s paper for the Humanitarian Leader’, titled ‘Evolution, ideas and the possibility of change of the humanitarian sector’, reflects on his research project for HERE Geneva, ‘Thinking about the evolution of the humanitarian sector: an exploration within the world of ideas’, and explores the dynamics of change specific to the humanitarian sector through a socio-phenomenological approach.
"This literature review has also clearly revealed another central invariant—a very simple but particularly powerful idea—that humanitarian aid is a sector, specific and different from all others."
Based on a review of 8,000 documents from the international humanitarian system, it describes the historical evolution in the way humanitarian assistance has been conceptualised over the period between 1991 and 2021 and highlights the presence of autonomous forces and mechanisms shaping the idea of humanitarian action over time. The paper’s broad historical perspective on the last thirty years, and the discussion of mechanisms and forces that orientate logics of transformation, offer insights for humanitarian leaders in thinking about change in and of the sector.
