Humanitarian crises, whether they result from conflict, natural disaster or political collapse are usually perceived as complete breaks from normality, spurring special emergency policies and interventions. This book questions this assumption, arguing that there are both continuities and discontinuities between crisis and normality. Using a wealth of international case studies from a team of leading experts, the book examines what this means for the social and political dynamics of institutional response, international policy and aid interventions in crises.

Dorothea Hilhorst is Professor of Humanitarian Aid and Reconstruction at Wageningen University.

1. Disaster, Conflict and Society in Crises: Everyday politics of crisis response Dorothea Hilhorst 2. Discourses of War, Peace and Peace-building in Sri Lanka Georg Frerks 3. The Political History of Disaster Management in Mozambique Luis Artur 4. The De-Disasterization of Food Crises: Structural reproduction or change in policy development and response options? A case study from Ethiopia Jan-Gerrit van Uffelen 5. The Politics of "Catastrophization" Jeroen Warner 6. Conflict, Governance and Institutional Multiplicity: Parallel governance in Kosovo and Chiapas (Mexico) Gemma van der Haar and Merel Heijke 7. Two Decades of Ordering Refugees: The development of institutional multiplicity in Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp Bram Jansen 8. Conflict Minerals in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Planned interventions and unexpected outcomes Jeroen Cuvelier 9. Institutional Multiplicity in Post-conflict Reconstruction: The case of a local church in Bunjei, Angola Maliana Serrano 10. Flying Below the Radar: Inter-ethnic marriages in Sri Lanka's war zone Timmo Gaasbeek 11. Humanitarian Space as Arena: A perspective on the everyday politics of aid Dorothea Hilhorst and Bram J. Jansen 12. The Politics of Peacebuilding through Strengthening Civil Society Mathijs van Leeuwen 13. The Everyday Politics of Disaster Risk Reduction in Central Java, Indonesia Annelies Heijmans 14. Post-Conflict Recovery and Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development in Angola: From crisis to normality? Hilde van Dijkhorst 15. Doing good / Being Nice? Aid legitimacy and mutual imaging of aid workers and aid recipients. Dorothea Hilhorst, Gemma Andriessen, Lotte Kemkens and Loes Weijers