Under what circumstances can the provision of social services, including that provided as humanitarian assistance, contribute to the management and transformation of civil wars? This dissertation addresses this question through a qualitative comparative analysis of social service provision...

While the conflict enhancing effects of social services, including those provided by humanitarian actors, during civil wars has been relatively well documented, the potential service provision offers for conflict transformation is less well understood. This paper compares the impact of services...

Sudan is a country that has suffered from civil war for most of its almost 50 years of independence. The recent phase of the conflict began in 1983, and has been the subject of considerable analysis. While most often portrayed as a conflict between the Arab, Muslim north and Christian/ Animist...

This paper considers the effectiveness of Angolan government, UN and non-governmental attempts to protect human rights in Angola from early 1998 to date, during and in the immediate aftermath of the recent conflict. Angola has suffered from one of the longest running conflicts in Africa....

This paper critically analyses the experience of the Irish government in implementing bilateral aid to a conflict- prone country, Sudan, from the miod- 1970s to the late 1990s. It illustrates the shifting patterns of Irish bilateral aid to Sudan from first- generation (modernisation) activities...

Irish government policy in relation to development and humanitarian response has traditionally been presented as sympathetic to developing countries and devoid of strategic self interest. Outside of its bilateral aid programme, Ireland has traditionally had only minor diplomatic relations with...

This paper examines the tension between raison d'etat and morality that exists in US government humanitarian initiatives. It asks whether US humanitarian assistance overseas is truly based on needs alone through a detailed examination of one US government unit dedicated to providing lifesaving...

Angola is a country that has been racked by conflict for the last 40 years. The impact of the conflict on the people of Angola has been devastating. Angola's post-independence conflict has been marked by prolonged involvement of the international community, both during the Cold War and in the...