Humanitarian action and liberal peace: the action of Oxfam and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan

Abstract

The research aims to analyze how humanitarian actions by Oxfam and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are influenced by prospects of liberal peace in Afghanistan, considering the period 1994 to 2017. The debate on liberal peace indicates that democracy and liberalism are essential factors for identifying a propensity for escalating internal conflicts, as well as fundamental to establish a country's domestic peace and security. Resulting from criticism in various dimensions about the theme, the discussion of Critical Security Studies points to the limits of liberal peace and highlights the importance of the perception of plural contexts and ontological particularities of non-Western conflicts - which is the case of Afghanistan -, as well as the identification of the identities of the national society. The contributions from these perspectives have allowed the comprehension of contemporary phenomena, such as modern conflicts, and the questioning of concepts that at first sight are seen as benign, such as the dyad of liberal peace "security" and "development", supported by the promotion and protection of a universal concept of human and humanitarian rights. The research uses the qualitative method with an emphasis on two case studies (Oxfam and ICRC) and the investigation technique is based on the bibliographic study of scientific articles and books; content analysis of official documents; and application of questionnaires and structured interviews with professionals of those two organizations.