HUMANITARIAN COLLABORATIVE BOOKS
BOOKS FROM PAST AND PRESENT AFFILIATED Faculty AND PRACTITIONER FELLOWS
THE TIES THAT BIND
Migration is among the central domestic and global political issues of today. Yet the causes and consequences – and the relationship between migration and global markets – are poorly understood. Migration is both costly and risky, so why do people decide to migrate? What are the political, social, economic, and environmental factors that cause people to leave their homes and seek a better life elsewhere?
Leblang and Helms argue that political factors – the ability to participate in the political life of a destination – are as important as economic and social factors. Most migrants don’t cut ties with their homeland but continue to be engaged, both economically and politically. Migrants continue to serve as a conduit for information, helping drive investment to their homelands. The authors combine theory with a wealth of micro and macro evidence to demonstrate that migration isn’t static, after all, but continuously fluid.
Young Children in Humanitarian and COVID-19 Crises
The long-term consequences of COVID-19 have been tough for children around the world, but even more so for young children already in humanitarian crisis, whether due to conflict, natural disasters, or economic and political upheaval.
This book investigates how organizations around the world responded to these dual challenges, identifying solutions, and learning opportunities to help to support young children in ongoing and future crises. Drawing on research and voices from the Global South, this book showcases innovations to mobilize new funds and re-allocate existing resources to protect children during the pandemic. It provides important evidence on understudied and overlooked vulnerable populations, recognizing that researchers from the Global South are best positioned to fill these research gaps, contextualize findings, and support the uptake and adoption of recommendations by local decision-makers and practitioners in those same contexts.
UNDERSTANDING THE HUMANITARIAN WORLD
Conflict and disaster have been part of human history for as long as it has been recorded. Over time, more mechanisms for responding to crises have developed and become more systematized. Today a large and complex ‘global humanitarian response system’ made up of a multitude of local, national and international actors carries out a wide variety of responses. Understanding this intricate system, and the forces that shape it, are the core focus of this book.
Maxwell and Gelsdorf highlight the origins, growth, and specific challenges to, humanitarian action and examine why the contemporary system functions as it does. They outline the main actors, explore how they are organised and look at the ways they plan and carry out their operations. Interrogating major contemporary debates and controversies in the humanitarian system, and the reasons why actions undertaken in its name remain the subject of so much controversy, they provide an important overview of the contemporary humanitarian system and the ways it may develop in the future.
The New American: A Novel
This novel follows Emilio, a Guatemalan American college student who discovers he is undocumented after a car accident leads to his deportation. Determined to return to California, Emilio embarks on a journey across Central America and the Sonoran Desert, facing dangers and meeting both hostile and kind-hearted people. Inspired by interviews with Central American refugees, Marcom tells a powerful and emotional story of one young man’s struggle to find his way back home.
Questioning Architectural Judgment: The Problem of Codes in the United States
Wilson’s work examines the complexities of judgment in architecture, particularly in relation to the evolving definition of “sustainability” and the codes that regulate it. By providing an interdisciplinary study, the book challenges assumptions within the field of architecture, urging a rethinking of how systems are defined and coded. Through case studies and cultural context, it argues that the solution lies not just in better codes, but in reimagining the boundaries of architectural systems themselves.
Trading Spaces: Foreign Direct Investment Regulation
This book offers the first comprehensive study of foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization, shifting the focus from how host-country politics influence FDI supply to the politics of FDI demand. Pandya’s theory explores how FDI impacts income distribution, raises local wages, and fosters competition among local firms, with empirical tests based on a unique dataset of foreign ownership regulations across over 100 countries from 1970–2000. The book provides insights into the economic and political foundations of global integration, shedding light on the rising economic tensions between advanced economies and emerging markets like China and India.
Moved by Modernity: How Development Shapes Migration in Rural Ethiopia
In this book, Schewel explores how social transformations linked to ‘development’ have influenced the migration and settlement patterns of a traditionally semi-nomadic people in Ethiopia’s Rift Valley. Using original survey data, interviews, and ethnographic methods, the study examines two key transitions: from semi-nomadic pastoralism to settled agriculture, and from rural agriculture to more urban, mobile lifestyles. It assesses the impact of various social changes—political, economic, demographic, cultural, and technological—on migration aspirations and behaviors over time.
Targeted Development: Industrialized Country Strategy in a Globalizing World
Blodgett Bermeo examines how wealthy nations have shifted their development policies in response to the global impacts of underdevelopment. Rather than focusing on broad human well-being, these nations now pursue a “targeted” strategy, advocating for development abroad only when it aligns with their own interests. This shift reflects a move away from globalism towards a more realpolitik approach to foreign aid, where the priorities of industrialized donor states often take precedence over addressing the root causes of poverty in the most vulnerable nations.