This book sheds light on why and how new humanitarian actors engage in humanitarian action and how their humanitarian activities are perceived in their (transnational) organisational environment. It provides detailed international and empirical comparisons between the 'new' humanitarians and traditional humanitarian actors, in particular those which focus on the relative level of commitment to humanitarian principles. It thus elucidates the role of the humanitarian principles in promoting coherence and coordination in the crowded and diverse world of humanitarian actors.

Introduction: New humanitarians getting old? Part 1 A brief history of humanitarian actors and the humanitarian principles 1. A brief history of humanitarian actors and principles Part 2 New donor humanitarianism 2. India as humanitarian actor: Convergences and divergences with DAC-Donor principles and practices 3. Turkey as a rising power: An emerging global humanitarian actor Part 3 Multi-Mandate organisations and developmental humanitarianism 4. Multi-Mandate organisations in humanitarian aid Part 4 Armed humanitarianism 5. Blurred lines, shrunken space? Offensive peacekeepers, networked humanitarians and the performance of principle in Democratic Republic Congo 6. Rebels without borders: Armed groups as humanitarian actors 7. The military, the private sector and traditional humanitarian actors: Interaction, interoperability and effectiveness Part 5 Private humanitarianism 8. Business in humanitarian crises - For better or for worse? 9. Humanitarian action for sale : Private military and security companies in the humanitarian space Part 6 Diaspora humanitarianism 10. Diaspora humanitarianism: The invisibility of a third humanitarian domain 11. Diaspora humanitarianism: Implications for the humanitarian action in Syria and neighbouring countries Part 7 Faith-Based humanitarianism 12. International Muslim NGOs: "Added value" or an echo of Western principles and donor wishes? 13. Writing the other into humanitarianism: A conversation between "South-South" and "faith-based" humanitarianisms Part 8 Regional and local humanitarianism 14. Regional organisations and the humanitarian system: History, trends and implications 15. Traditional and non-traditional humanitarian actors in disaster response in India Conclusion

Zeynep Sezgin is Lise-Meitner Fellow of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and leads the research project "Legitimacy of Faith-Based Humanitarian Organisations in Austria, Germany and Pakistan" at the Department of Development Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria.

Dennis Dijkzeul is Professor of Conflict and Organisation Research at the Social Science School and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.