The Library
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and the humanitarian industry in Britain, 1963-85
Tools
Jones, Andrew (2015) The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and the humanitarian industry in Britain, 1963-85. Twentieth Century British History, 26 (4). pp. 573-601. doi:10.1093/tcbh/hwu061 ISSN 0955-2359.
Research output not available from this repository.
Request-a-Copy directly from author or use local Library Get it For Me service.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwu061
Abstract
This article explores the history of modern British humanitarianism. Specifically, it charts the rise of an extensive humanitarian aid ‘industry’ in Britain, between 1963 and 1985. It does so through a focus on the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella body for joint emergency fundraising established in 1963. The DEC is an enduring and important presence in the British humanitarian landscape, as it brings together leading aid agencies to make fundraising campaigns on television after major disasters. This article represents the first systematic historical analysis of the DEC, which it uses to illuminate larger questions about the politics of non-state humanitarianism, state-voluntary sector relations, the political impact of television, and the end of empire. It is shown that while DEC appeals fuelled the growth of its members, this was also a problematic process. Many principal aid agencies wished to shift their focus away from short-term disaster relief work to tackling the long-term structural causes of global poverty instead. It is argued that, despite an increasing political focus, humanitarian organizations were constrained from doing so by the power of television; a perceived lack of public support; the interventions of the British government; and competition between aid agencies in a crowded marketplace. Consequently, continued involvement in short-term, apolitical emergency assistance remained a requirement even for agencies sceptical about its value and impact. This analysis complicates linear narratives of a transition from emergency relief to development aid in post-war British humanitarianism, instead presenting the period as characterized by competing and even contradictory trajectories.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > History | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Twentieth Century British History | ||||
Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||
ISSN: | 0955-2359 | ||||
Official Date: | 2015 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Volume: | 26 | ||||
Number: | 4 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 573-601 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1093/tcbh/hwu061 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |