A research note about military-civilian humanitarianism: more questions than answers

'Military-civilian humanitarianism'--or the coming together of military forces and civilian aid agencies to deal with the human suffering from complex emergencies--has numerous forms, but disenchantment has resulted from the Somalia and Bosnia syndromes. There is little political will at present, but evidence from the immediate post-Cold War era suggests how multilateral military operations could expand or contract in future to the benefit or peril of war victims. Partly a literature review but more importantly a framework for interpreting recent publications, this essay seeks to move beyond exchanging assertions. There is a contextualisation of recent literature; a definition of military-civilian humanitarianism; a discussion of possible military contributions to humanitarian action; a framework to assess the effectiveness of military-civilian humanitarianism; and a preliminary analysis of experience from northern Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Haiti. Caveat lector: At this point in time, there are still 'more questions than answers'.