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Humanitarian neophilia: the ‘innovation turn’ and its implications

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  • Tom Scott-Smith

Abstract

This paper critically examines the ‘humanitarian innovation’ movement, arguing that it represents a departure from classical principles and the entry of a distinctive new ideology into the sector. Labelling this ‘humanitarian neophilia’, the paper argues that it has resonances of Barbrook and Cameron’s ‘Californian Ideology’, with its merging of New Left and New Right within the environs of Silicon Valley. Humanitarian neophilia, similarly, comes from a diverse ideological heritage, combining an optimistic faith in the possibilities of technology with a commitment to the power of markets. It both ‘understates the state’ and ‘overstates the object’, promoting a vision of self-reliant subjects rather than strong nation-states realising substantive socioeconomic rights.

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  • Tom Scott-Smith, 2016. "Humanitarian neophilia: the ‘innovation turn’ and its implications," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(12), pages 2229-2251, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:37:y:2016:i:12:p:2229-2251
    DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2016.1176856
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    Cited by:

    1. Anke Schwittay, 2019. "Designing Urban Women’s Safety: An Empirical Study of Inclusive Innovation Through a Gender Transformation Lens," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(4), pages 836-854, September.
    2. Jaspars, Susanne & Adan, Guhad M. & Majid, Nisar, 2019. "Food and power in Somalia: business as usual? A scoping study on the political economy of food following shifts in food assistance and in governance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103138, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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