Crisis thinking – In theory and Practice.

Disaster, Catastrophe, Emergency. Crisis.

The world is full of them. Be this in the form of natural disasters, catastrophic wars, or climate emergencies; crisis is painted as the umbrella term for these events. It triggers acute responses by individuals, governments, organisations, and so on. A school of thought, however, posits that when this happens, the general order is to rush in fast to help, often causing things to get worse. This is crisis thinking. One only has to glance at the news to see stories with these acute action words. The Israel-Gaza war is a perfect example. “The hurriedly planned visit of President Joe Biden” “over 300,000 reservists have been called up”. While crisis thinking in theory encompasses, war and climate, this blog will focus on the prevalence of humanitarian crisis thinking, such as charity work, and whether or not it is the correct way of going about aid.

While streaming services have taken away the majority of our consumption of Adverts over the last decade, our screens are still flooded with adverts on how little (so and so) is desperate for water, food, education, or sanitation in Africa. Always an urgent appeal by some celebrity stating all of a sudden that there is no drinking water, and you should part ways with your money now. While these forms of appeals are not exclusive to the African continent (the occasional endangered animal will appear every so often), the grand majority are. This depiction of helplessness triggers this concept of giving immediately, perhaps without looking too closely into where the money is going, or who is distributing it. Additionally, many spoof adverts have been created to show how these appeals can be considered slightly absurd.

Without taking time to properly vet and screen workers, there are too many incidents involving sex scandals in African countries, where women and girls are being sexually exploited by aid workers, and money is being siphoned out of the aid system into pockets. A report on fraud and corruption risks in the DRC details how the money is being misused through a “dizzying number of corrupt practices”. A large problem in these aid organisations is the fact that much of it is swept under the carpet, because “flagging corrupt practices would get them blocked from future contracts or partnerships with aid agencies”.

Over the last decades, the question of do Africans want this form of crisis depiction, the visions of starving children and helpless people has left lasting effects in children’s minds as they grow up watching these appeals. The perfect example for all of this is of course Live Aid.  While Bob Geldof and famous musicians put Africa somewhat on the map, bringing together a generation in order to really launch humanitarian aid like never before, there have been critics of this all along. A particularly scathing but valid point from an economics professor puts it very succinctly “Without the legacy of Live Aid, the West’s view would be less condescending and more Africa-centric. As it is, our patronizing attitudes perpetuate the idea that we are the source of hope.” The first time I realised that “Feed the World” was more than just a charity Christmas song was when Africa for Norway was created, and they produced a song for Radi-aid, ‘dedicated to giving the cold people of Norway radiators as Africans have so much heat, they should share it’.

When looking at governmental aid, training, weapons, soldiers, etc. there is also a large disparity between what is ‘given’ on the surface, and the politics that goes on underneath. The show of governments giving crisis aid often comes along with agreements, policy alignment, and a lot of overlooking of crimes. The European Union has been funding the Malian army in one way or another since the outbreak of the crisis in 2012, in response to the increasing terrorism threat. This proximity of danger has been argued as one of if not the sole reason for intervention, however,  the Malian army is claimed to be responsible for around as many civilian deaths as insurgency groups. Despite this, many European states continue to fund the army without care for the behaviour, as long as the goal of combatting terrorism is contained.

In conclusion, crisis thinking should be considered before rushing into action, due to a lack of understanding. When it comes to aid, while intentions individually or at a societal level can be well-meaning, there remains a lot of telling African countries what they need and how it is being distributed. Immediately sending aid and workers without proper vetting can result in increased fraud and corruption, sexual assaults, and other crimes against humanity. By framing the need for aid as a crisis, across many distinctions of necessity, the headless chicken response will continue.