Loading...
Life in Relief: Humanitarianism, Governance, and the Politics of the Permanent Emergency in Gaza
Jannin Piwudzka, Anastasia
Jannin Piwudzka, Anastasia
Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract
This dissertation provides a detailed examination of the shift in Gaza from being a perpetual state of crisis to becoming a model for humanitarian governance. This shift is examined in detail, in addition to the changes it underwent due to the 2023 conflict after 7 October 2023. The methodological approach employed by this study is based on a qualitative document analysis of UN and NGO appeal documents; UN and NGO Situation Reports and Cluster Documents; Legal and Policy documents from the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Egypt, Israel and other major donor states; and critically reviewed literature regarding humanitarianism, sovereignty and the relationship between humanitarianism, development and peace (the HDP). These documents are analyzed using a theoretical lens of Fassin’s “Humanitarian Reason”, Agier’s “Humanitarian Government”, Feldman’s “Triangular Sovereignty” and the critique of Resilience, Humanitarian Neoliberalism and the HDP. An Analysis of these documents reveals that during the period 2007-2023, Gaza has been subject to a form of fragmented sovereignty in which three parties: the Israeli state; Hamas and Donors have collectively contributed to establishing the parameters for living conditions. The collapse of basic services, the dependency on foreign assistance for nearly all aspects of life in Gaza, and the simultaneous political assault on the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) demonstrate how precarious is the relationship between “humanity” and “independence” and both donor politics and the policies of the blockade and the control of land access by the Israeli military. Humanitarian principles are therefore not just limited or restricted; they are substantially redefined: humanity is reduced to medical triage under siege, neutrality is defined as an approach to accessing populations, independence is defined as compliance with intense conditionalities, and impartiality is defined by logistical and algorithmic processes.
Description
Master of Arts in International Affairs -- John Cabot University, Fall 2025.
Date
2025
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Collections
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Humanitarian intervention, War (International law), Gaza Strip
Citation
Jannin Piwudzka, Anastasia. "Life in Relief: Humanitarianism, Governance, and the Politics of the Permanent Emergency in Gaza". Master's Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2025.