Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Abstract: The purpose of my research is to examine the possibilities and limitations of state commitment to humanitarianism. In this relation, my research question is under which conditions the state is willing to use its personnel and resources for humanitarian actions across borders. In this proposal, a general theoretical framework is developed to explain the influence of a humanitarian coalition on the state. A humanitarian coalition is a cooperative linkage among humanitarian NGOs and international organizations across state borders in pursuit of humanitarian goals. It is tested in four country studies of state compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Four case studies are Canada, Austria, Germany, and France, each of which shows a distinct pattern of compliance and has a basis for NGO activities with a mature civil society.
The mine ban case represents a critical case for the debate on states’ commitment to humanitarianism because it allows for a detailed observation of this issue with the treaty’s incorporation of two emergent and distinctive dimensions of humanitarianism as obligatory for signatory states: civil-military humanitarianism and socio-economic humanitarianism. Civil-military humanitarianism involves the expansive use of military resources for humanitarian purposes. Socio-economic humanitarianism pursues the more multidimensional and longer-term well-being of all people, thus enhancing the protection of social and economic human rights.
I argue that the way in which a humanitarian coalition influences the state differs depending on the type of humanitarianism. In cases when socio-economic humanitarianism is employed, the more consolidated a humanitarian coalition is, the more it is capable of influencing the state. Still, in civil-military humanitarianism, on top of a consolidated humanitarian coalition, the existence of stronger domestic salience of a humanitarian norm is required for more influence on governmental commitment on civil-military humanitarianism. For the state is often resistant to committing itself to humanitarianism when national security is at stake.
This project will contribute a new argument to the debate on mechanisms of the normative influence of transnational coalitions on the state, thus contributing to the refinement of constructivism. Furthermore, this project will update and enhance the empirical analysis of state compliance with the almost universally supported Mine Ban Treaty of 1997.