Dilemmas in Humanitarian Intervention

Director of research and former head of the French section of Medicins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), Terry’s compelling book, Condemned to Repeat?: The Paradox of Humanitarian Action, examines the failure of international humanitarian organizations to take into consideration a wider political context before providing aid. This shortsightedness, argues Terry, results in the paradox that humanitarian aid aimed at alleviating suffering instead sustains the oppressive action that caused it. Class of ’71 Public Affairs Forum, part 2 (see also Noam Chomsky, Sept. 15).