Pressurised
water reactors are the most common reactors used in ships and
submarines. The pictorial diagram shows the operating principles.
Primary coolant is in orange and the secondary coolant (steam and later
feedwater) is in blue.
Nuclear propulsion includes a wide variety of propulsion methods that use some form of nuclear reaction as their primary power source. Many aircraft carriers and submarines currently use uranium
fueled nuclear reactors that can provide propulsion for long periods
without refueling. There are also applications in the space sector with nuclear thermal and nuclear electric engines which could be more efficient than conventional rocket engines.
The idea of using nuclear material for propulsion dates back to
the beginning of the 20th century. In 1903 it was hypothesized that
radioactive material, radium, might be a suitable fuel for engines to propel cars, planes, and boats. H. G. Wells picked up this idea in his 1914 fiction work The World Set Free.
Nuclear-powered vessels are mainly military submarines, and aircraft carriers. Russia is the only country that currently has nuclear-powered civilian surface ships, mainly icebreakers. The US Navy
currently (as of 2022) has 11 aircraft carriers and 70 submarines in
service, that are all powered by nuclear reactors. For more detailed
articles see:
Russia's Channel One Television news broadcast a picture and details of a nuclear-powered torpedo called Status-6
on about 12 November 2015. The torpedo was stated as having a range of
up to 10,000 km, a cruising speed of 100 knots, and an operational depth
of up to 1000 metres below the surface. The torpedo carried a
100-megaton nuclear warhead.
One of the suggestions emerging in the summer of 1958 from the first meeting of the scientific advisory group that became JASON was for "a nuclear-powered torpedo that could roam the seas almost indefinitely".
A picture of an Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion system, known as HTRE-3 (Heat Transfer Reactor Experiment no. 3). The central EBR-1 based reactor took the place of chemical fuel combustion to heat the air. The reactor rapidly raised the temperature via an air heat exchanger and powered the dual J47 engines in a number of ground tests.
Research into nuclear-powered aircraft was pursued during the Cold War by the United States and the Soviet Union
as they would presumably allow a country to keep nuclear bombers in the
air for extremely long periods of time, a useful tactic for nuclear deterrence. Neither country created any operational nuclear aircraft. One design problem, never adequately solved, was the need for heavy shielding to protect the crew from radiation sickness. Since the advent of ICBMs in the 1960s the tactical advantage of such aircraft was greatly diminished and respective projects were cancelled. Because the technology was inherently dangerous it was not considered
in non-military contexts. Nuclear-powered missiles were also researched
and discounted during the same period.
The attraction of nuclear propulsion and power in space is built on
the high efficiency and theoretical capability that can be delivered
with a nuclear system, namely energy efficiency of the system and
endurance/capacity of the system to function over long distances. In balance, the systems needed to protect humans in both the space-lift
and operations phase are significant detriments. Many types of nuclear
propulsion have been proposed as follows.
External Pulsed Plasma Propulsion (EPPP), a propulsion concept by
NASA that derives its thrust from plasma waves generated from a series
of small, supercritical fission/fusion pulses behind an object in space.
Bimodal
nuclear thermal rockets conduct nuclear fission reactions similar to
those employed at nuclear power plants including submarines. The energy
is used to heat the liquid hydrogen propellant. The vehicle depicted is
the "Copernicus" an upper stage assembly being designed for the Space Launch System (2010).
Bimodal nuclear thermal rockets conduct nuclear fission reactions
similar to those employed at nuclear power plants including submarines.
The energy is used to heat the liquid hydrogen propellant. Advocates of nuclear-powered spacecraft point out that at the time of
launch, there is almost no radiation released from the nuclear reactors.
Nuclear-powered rockets are not used to lift off the Earth. Nuclear
thermal rockets can provide great performance advantages compared to
chemical propulsion systems. Nuclear power sources could also be used to
provide the spacecraft with electrical power for operations and
scientific instrumentation. Examples:
NERVA (Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Applications), a US nuclear thermal rocket program.
Project Rover,
an American project to develop a nuclear thermal rocket. The program
ran at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory from 1955 through 1972.
Project Prometheus, NASA development of nuclear propulsion for long-duration spaceflight, begun in 2003.
Transport and Energy Module (TEM). In April 2011, Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, announced that it is going to develop a nuclear-powered spacecraft for deep space travel. Preliminary design was done by 2013, and 9 more years are planned for
development (in space assembly). The price is set at 17 billion rubles
(600 million dollars). The nuclear propulsion would offer mega-watt class power and would consist of a space nuclear power and a matrix of ion engines According to Perminov, the propulsion will be able to support human mission to Mars,
with cosmonauts staying on the Red planet for 30 days. This journey to
Mars with nuclear propulsion and a steady acceleration would take six
weeks, instead of eight months by using chemical propulsion – assuming
thrust of 300 times higher than that of chemical propulsion.
Ground vehicles
Automobiles
The idea of making cars that used radioactive material, radium,
for fuel dates back to at least 1903. Analysis of the concept in 1937
indicated that the driver of such a vehicle might need a 50-ton lead barrier to shield them from radiation.
In 1941, a Caltech physicist named R. M. Langer espoused the idea of a car powered by uranium-235 in the January edition of Popular Mechanics. He was followed by William Bushnell Stout, designer of the Stout Scarab and former Society of Engineers president, on 7 August 1945 in The New York Times. The problem of shielding the reactor continued to render the idea impractical. In December 1945, a John Wilson of London, announced he had created an
atomic car. This created considerable interest. The Minister of Fuel and
Power along with a large press contingent turned out to view it. The
car did not show and Wilson claimed that it had been sabotaged. A later
court case found that he was a fraud and there was no nuclear-powered
car.
Despite the shielding problem, through the late 1940s and early
1950s debate continued around the possibility of nuclear-powered cars.
The development of nuclear-powered submarines and ships, and experiments
to develop a nuclear-powered aircraft at that time kept the idea alive. Russian papers in the mid-1950s reported the development of a
nuclear-powered car by Professor V P Romadin, but again shielding proved
to be a problem. It was claimed that its laboratories had overcome the shielding problem with a new alloy that absorbed the rays.
In 1958, at the height of the 1950s American automobile culture there were at least four theoretical nuclear-powered concept cars proposed, the American Ford Nucleon and Studebaker Packard Astral, as well as the French Simca Fulgur designed by Robert Opron and the Arbel Symétric. Apart from these concept models, none were built and no automotive nuclear power plants ever made. Chrysler
engineer C R Lewis had discounted the idea in 1957 because of estimates
that an 80,000 lb (36,000 kg) engine would be required by a 3,000 lb
(1,400 kg) car. His view was that an efficient means of storing energy
was required for nuclear power to be practical. Despite this, Chrysler's stylists in 1958 drew up some possible designs.
In 1959 it was reported that Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company had developed a new rubber
compound that was light and absorbed radiation, obviating the need for
heavy shielding. A reporter at the time considered it might make
nuclear-powered cars and aircraft a possibility.
Ford made another potentially nuclear-powered model in 1962 for the Seattle World's Fair, the Ford Seattle-ite XXI. This also never went beyond the initial concept.
The Chrysler TV-8 was an experimental concept tank designed by Chrysler in the 1950s. The tank was intended to be a nuclear-poweredmedium tank capable of land and amphibious warfare. The design was never mass-produced.
The X-12 was a nuclear powered locomotive, proposed in a feasibility study done in 1954 at the University of Utah.
"In
his explicit turn back to an ancient model in search of knowledge and
wisdom, Leonardo follows early humanist practice. What he finds in
Vitruvius is a mathematical formula for the proportions of all parts of
the human body, which results in its idealized representation as the
true microcosmic measure of all things. [...]The perfection of this
ideal human form corresponds visually to the early humanist belief in
the unique central placement of human beings within the divine universal
order and their consequent human grandeur and dignity, expressed in the
philosopher Pico della Mirandola's Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486), known as the manifesto of the Renaissance."
— Anne Hudson Jones
Renaissance humanism is a worldview centered on the nature and importance of humanity that emerged from the study of Classical antiquity.
Renaissance humanists sought to create a citizenry able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity, and thus capable of engaging in the civic life of their communities and persuading others to virtuous and prudent actions. Humanism, while set up by a small elite who had access to books and education, was intended as a cultural movement to influence all of society. It was a program to revive the cultural heritage, literary legacy, and moral philosophy of the Greco-Roman civilization.
It first began in Italy and then spread across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term humanist (Italian: umanista) referred to teachers and students of the humanities, known as the studia humanitatis, which included the study of Latin and Ancient Greek literatures, grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and moral philosophy. It was not until the 19th century that this began to be called humanism instead of the original humanities, and later by the retronymRenaissance humanism to distinguish it from later humanist developments.
Very broadly, the project of the Italian Renaissance humanists of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was the studia humanitatis: the study of the humanities, "a curriculum focusing on language skills." This project sought to recover the culture of ancient Greece and Rome
through its literature and philosophy and to use this classical revival
to imbue the ruling classes with the moral attitudes of said ancients—a
project James Hankins calls one of "virtue politics." But what this studia humanitatis actually constituted is a subject of much debate. According to one scholar of the movement,
Early Italian humanism, which in many respects continued
the grammatical and rhetorical traditions of the Middle Ages, not merely
provided the old Trivium with a new and more ambitious name (Studia humanitatis),
but also increased its actual scope, content and significance in the
curriculum of the schools and universities and in its own extensive
literary production. The studia humanitatis excluded logic, but they added to the traditional grammar and rhetoric not only history, Greek,
and moral philosophy, but also made poetry, once a sequel of grammar
and rhetoric, the most important member of the whole group.
However, in investigating this definition in his article "The changing concept of the studia humanitatis
in the early Renaissance," Benjamin G. Kohl provides an account of the
various meanings the term took on over the course of the period.
Around the middle of the fourteenth century, when the term first came into use among Italian literati, it was used in reference to a very specific text: as praise of the cultural and moral attitudes expressed in Cicero's Pro Archia poeta (62 BCE).
Tuscan humanist Coluccio Salutati
popularized the term in the 1370s, using the phrase to refer to culture
and learning as a guide to moral life, with a focus on rhetoric and
oration. Over the years, he came to use it specifically in literary
praise of his contemporaries, but later viewed the studia humanitatis as a means of editing and restoring ancient texts and even understanding scripture and other divine literature.
But it was not until the beginning of the quattrocento (15th century) that the studia humanitatis began to be associated with particular academic disciplines, when Pier Paolo Vergerio, in his De ingenuis moribus, stressed the importance of rhetoric, history, and moral philosophy as a means of moral improvement.
By the middle of the century, the term was adopted more formally, as
it started to be used in Bologna and Padua in reference to university
courses that taught these disciplines as well as Latin poetry, before
then spreading northward throughout Italy.
But the first instance of it as encompassing grammar, rhetoric,
history, poetry, and moral philosophy all together only came when Tommaso Parentucelli wrote to Cosimo de' Medici with recommendations regarding his library collection, saying, "de studiis autem humanitatis quantum ad grammaticam, rhetoricam, historicam et poeticam spectat ac moralem" ("concerning studies of the humanities, insofar as they [consist of] grammar, rhetoric, history and poetry, and also ethics").
And so, the term studia humanitatis took on a variety of
meanings over the centuries, being used differently by humanists across
the various Italian city-states as one definition got adopted and spread
across the country. Still, it has referred consistently to a mode of
learning—formal or not—that results in one's moral edification.
Under the influence and inspiration of the classics, Renaissance humanists developed a new rhetoric and new learning. Some scholars also argue that humanism articulated new moral and civic perspectives, and values offering guidance in life to all citizens. Renaissance humanism was a response to what came to be depicted by later whig historians as the "narrow pedantry" associated with medieval scholasticism.
History
In the last years of the 13th century and in the first decades of the 14th century,
the cultural climate was changing in some European regions. The
rediscovery, study, and renewed interest in authors who had been
forgotten, and in the classical world that they represented, inspired a
flourishing return to linguistic, stylistic and literary models of
antiquity. There emerged a consciousness of the need for a cultural
renewal, which sometimes also meant a detachment from contemporary
culture. Manuscripts and inscriptions were in high demand and graphic
models were also imitated. This "return to the ancients" was the main
component of so-called "pre-humanism", which developed particularly in Tuscany, in the Veneto region, and at the papal court of Avignon, through the activity of figures such as Lovato Lovati and Albertino Mussato in Padua, Landolfo Colonna in Avignon, Ferreto de' Ferreti in Vicenza, Convenevole from Prato in Tuscany and then in Avignon, and many others.
By the 14th century some of the first humanists were great collectors of antique manuscripts, including Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Coluccio Salutati, and Poggio Bracciolini.
Of the four, Petrarch was dubbed the "Father of Humanism," as he was
the one who first encouraged the study of pagan civilizations and the
teaching of classical virtues as a means of preserving Christianity. He also had a library, of which many manuscripts did not survive. Many worked for the Catholic Church and were in holy orders, like Petrarch, while others were lawyers and chancellors of Italian cities, and thus had access to book copying workshops, such as Petrarch's disciple Salutati, the Chancellor of Florence.
In Italy, the humanist educational program won rapid acceptance and, by the mid-15th century, many of the upper classes had received humanist educations, possibly in addition to traditional scholastic
ones. Some of the highest officials of the Catholic Church were
humanists with the resources to amass important libraries. Such was
Cardinal Basilios Bessarion, a convert to the Catholic Church from Greek Orthodoxy, who was considered for the papacy, and was one of the most learned scholars of his time. There were several 15th-century and early 16th-century humanist Popes one of whom, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II), was a prolific author and wrote a treatise on The Education of Boys. These subjects came to be known as the humanities, and the movement which they inspired is shown as humanism.
Many humanists were churchmen, most notably Pope Pius II, Sixtus IV, and Leo X, and there was often patronage of humanists by senior church figures. Much humanist effort went into improving the understanding and
translations of Biblical and early Christian texts, both before and
after the Reformation, which was greatly influenced by the work of
non-Italian, Northern European figures such as Erasmus, Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples, William Grocyn, and Swedish Catholic Archbishop in exile Olaus Magnus.
Description
The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy describes the rationalism of ancient writings as having tremendous impact on Renaissance scholars:
Here, one felt no weight of the
supernatural pressing on the human mind, demanding homage and
allegiance. Humanity—with all its distinct capabilities, talents,
worries, problems, possibilities—was the center of interest. It has been
said that medieval thinkers philosophised on their knees, but,
bolstered by the new studies, they dared to stand up and to rise to full
stature.
In 1417, for example, Poggio Bracciolini discovered the manuscript of Lucretius, De rerum natura, which had been lost for centuries and which contained an explanation of Epicurean doctrine,
though at the time this was not commented on much by Renaissance
scholars, who confined themselves to remarks about Lucretius's grammar
and syntax.
Only in 1564 did French commentator Denys Lambin (1519–72)
announce in the preface to the work that "he regarded Lucretius's
Epicurean ideas as 'fanciful, absurd, and opposed to Christianity'."
Lambin's preface remained standard until the nineteenth century. Epicurus's unacceptable doctrine that pleasure was the highest good "ensured the unpopularity of his philosophy". Lorenzo Valla, however, puts a defense of epicureanism in the mouth of one of the interlocutors of one of his dialogues.
Epicureanism
Charles
Trinkhaus regards Valla's "epicureanism" as a ploy, not seriously meant
by Valla, but designed to refute Stoicism, which he regarded together
with epicureanism as equally inferior to Christianity. Valla's defense, or adaptation, of Epicureanism was later taken up in The Epicurean by Erasmus, the "Prince of humanists:"
If people who live agreeably are Epicureans, none are more truly Epicurean
than the righteous and godly. And if it is names that bother us, no
one better deserves the name of Epicurean than the revered founder and
head of the Christian philosophy Christ, for in Greek epikouros means "helper". He alone, when the law of Nature was all but blotted out by sins, when the law of Moses incited to lists rather than cured them, when Satan
ruled in the world unchallenged, brought timely aid to perishing
humanity. Completely mistaken, therefore, are those who talk in their
foolish fashion about Christ's having been sad and gloomy in character
and calling upon us to follow a dismal mode of life. On the contrary,
he alone shows the most enjoyable life of all and the one most full of
true pleasure.
This passage exemplifies the way in which the humanists saw pagan classical works, such as the philosophy of Epicurus, as being in harmony with their interpretation of Christianity.
Neo-Platonism
Renaissance Neo-Platonists such as Marsilio Ficino (whose translations of Plato's works into Latin were still used into the 19th century) attempted to reconcile Platonism with Christianity, according to the suggestions of early Church Fathers Lactantius and Saint Augustine. In this spirit, Pico della Mirandola attempted to construct a syncretism
of religions and philosophies with Christianity, but his work did not
win favor with the church authorities, who rejected it because of his
views on magic.
Evolution and reception
The historian of the Renaissance Sir John Hale
cautions against too direct a linkage between Renaissance humanism and
modern uses of the term humanism: "Renaissance humanism must be kept
free from any hint of either 'humanitarianism' or 'humanism' in its
modern sense of rational, non-religious approach to life ... the word
'humanism' will mislead ... if it is seen in opposition to a
Christianity its students in the main wished to supplement, not
contradict, through their patient excavation of the sources of ancient
God-inspired wisdom."
Individual freedom
Historian Steven Kreis expresses a widespread view (derived from the 19th-century Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt), when he writes that:
The
period from the fourteenth century to the seventeenth worked in favor
of the general emancipation of the individual. The city-states of
northern Italy had come into contact with the diverse customs of the
East, and gradually permitted expression in matters of taste and dress.
The writings of Dante, and particularly the doctrines of Petrarch and
humanists like Machiavelli, emphasized the virtues of intellectual
freedom and individual expression. In the essays of Montaigne the
individualistic view of life received perhaps the most persuasive and
eloquent statement in the history of literature and philosophy.
Two noteworthy trends in some Renaissance humanists were Renaissance Neo-Platonism and Hermeticism, which through the works of figures like Nicholas of Kues, Giordano Bruno, Cornelius Agrippa, Campanella and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola sometimes came close to constituting a new religion itself. Of these two, Hermeticism has had great continuing influence in Western
thought, while the former mostly dissipated as an intellectual trend,
leading to movements in Western esotericism such as Theosophy and New Age thinking. The "Yates thesis" of Frances Yates
holds that before falling out of favour, esoteric Renaissance thought
introduced several concepts that were useful for the development of
scientific method, though this remains a matter of controversy.
Sixteenth century and beyond
Though humanists continued to use their scholarship in the service of
the church into the middle of the sixteenth century and beyond, the
sharply confrontational religious atmosphere following the Reformation
resulted in the Counter-Reformation that sought to silence challenges to Catholic theology, with similar efforts among the Protestant denominations. Some humanists, even moderate Catholics such as Erasmus, risked being declared heretics for their perceived criticism of the institutional church.
With the Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent
(1545–1563), positions hardened and a strict Catholic orthodoxy based
on scholastic philosophy was imposed. However the education systems
developed by Jesuits ran on humanist lines.
Historiography
Baron thesis
Hans Baron
(1900–1988) was the inventor of the now ubiquitous term "civic
humanism." First coined in the 1920s and based largely on his studies of
Leonardo Bruni, Baron's "thesis" proposed the existence of a central
strain of humanism, particularly in Florence and Venice, dedicated to
republicanism.
As argued in his chef-d'œuvre, The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance: Civic Humanism and Republican Liberty in an Age of Classicism and Tyranny,
the German historian thought that civic humanism originated in around
1402, after the great struggles between Florence and Visconti-led Milan
in the 1390s. He considered Petrarch's humanism to be a rhetorical,
superficial project, and viewed this new strand to be one that abandoned
the feudal and supposedly "otherworldly" (i.e., divine) ideology of the
Middle Ages in favour of putting the republican state and its freedom
at the forefront of the "civic humanist" project. Already controversial at the time of The Crisis' publication, the "Baron Thesis" has been met with even more criticism over the years.
Even in the 1960s, historians Philip Jones and Peter Herde found Baron's praise of "republican" humanists naive, arguing that
republics were far less liberty-driven than Baron had believed, and were
practically as undemocratic as monarchies. James Hankins adds that the
disparity in political values between the humanists employed by
oligarchies and those employed by princes was not particularly notable,
as all of Baron's civic ideals were exemplified by humanists serving
various types of government. In so arguing, he asserts that a "political
reform program is central to the humanist movement founded by Petrarch.
But it is not a 'republican' project in Baron's sense of republic; it
is not an ideological product associated with a particular regime type."
Garin and Kristeller
Two renowned Renaissance scholars, Eugenio Garin and Paul Oskar Kristeller
collaborated with one another throughout their careers. But while the
two historians were on good terms, they fundamentally disagreed on the
nature of Renaissance humanism.
Kristeller affirmed that Renaissance humanism used to be viewed
just as a project of Classical revival, one that led to great increase
in Classical scholarship. But he argued that this theory "fails to
explain the ideal of eloquence persistently set forth in the writings of
the humanists," asserting that "their classical learning was incidental
to" their being "professional rhetoricians." Similarly, he considered their influence on philosophy and particular
figures' philosophical output to be incidental to their humanism,
viewing grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and ethics to be the
humanists' main concerns.
Garin, on the other hand, viewed philosophy itself as being
ever-evolving, each form of philosophy being inextricable from the
practices of the thinkers of its period. He thus considered the Italian
humanists' break from Scholasticism and newfound freedom to be perfectly
in line with this broader sense of philosophy.
During the period in which they argued over these differing views,
there was a broader cultural conversation happening regarding Humanism:
one revolving around Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger.
In 1946, Sartre published a work called "L'existentialisme est un humanisme," in which he outlined his conception of existentialism as revolving around the belief that "existence comes before essence";
that man "first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the
world – and defines himself afterwards," making himself and giving
himself purpose.
Heidegger, in a response to this work of Sartre's, declared: "For
this is humanism: meditating and caring, that human beings be human and
not inhumane, "inhuman", that is, outside their essence." He also discussed a decline in the concept of humanism, pronouncing
that it had been dominated by metaphysics and essentially discounting it
as philosophy. He also explicitly criticized Italian Renaissance
humanism in the letter.
While this discourse was taking place outside the realm of
Renaissance Studies (for more on the evolution of the term "humanism,"
see Humanism),
this background debate was not irrelevant to Kristeller and Garin's
ongoing disagreement. Kristeller—who had at one point studied under
Heidegger—also discounted (Renaissance) humanism as philosophy, and Garin's Der italienische Humanismus
was published alongside Heidegger's response to Sartre—a move that
Rubini describes as an attempt "to stage a pre-emptive confrontation
between historical humanism and philosophical neo-humanisms." Garin also conceived of the Renaissance humanists as occupying the same
kind of "characteristic angst the existentialists attributed to men who
had suddenly become conscious of their radical freedom," further
weaving philosophy with Renaissance humanism.
Hankins summarizes the Kristeller v. Garin debate as:
Kristeller conceives of professional philosophers as being very formal and method-focused. Renaissance humanists, on the other hand, he viewed to be professional rhetoricians who, using their classically-inspired paideia or institutio, did improve fields such as philosophy, but without the practice of philosophy being their main goal or function.
Garin, instead, wanted his "humanist-philosophers to be organic
intellectuals," not constituting a rigid school of thought, but having a
shared outlook on life and education that broke with the medieval
traditions that came before them.
I. R. Grigulevich
According to Russian historian and Stalinist assassin Iosif Grigulevich
two characteristic traits of late Renaissance humanism were "its revolt
against abstract, Aristotelian modes of thought and its concern with
the problems of war, poverty, and social injustice."
A humanitarian crisis (or sometimes humanitarian disaster)
is defined as a singular event or a series of events that are
threatening in terms of health, safety or well-being of a community or
large group of people. It may be an internal or external conflict and usually occurs
throughout a large land area. Local, national and international
responses are necessary in such events.
Each humanitarian crisis is caused by different factors and as a
result, each different humanitarian crisis requires a unique response
targeted towards the specific sectors affected. This can result in
either short-term or long-term damage. Humanitarian crises can either be
natural disasters, human-made disasters or complex emergencies.
In such cases, complex emergencies occur as a result of several factors
or events that prevent a large group of people from accessing their
fundamental needs, such as food, clean water or safe shelter.
Common causes of humanitarian crises are wars, epidemics, famine, natural disasters, energy crises and other major emergencies. If a crisis causes large movements of people it could also become a refugee crisis.
For these reasons, humanitarian crises are often interconnected and
complex and several national and international agencies play roles in
the repercussions of the incidences.
Categories
There
is no simple categorization of humanitarian crises. Different
communities and agencies tend to have definitions related to the
concrete situations they face. A local fire service will tend to focus
on issues such as flooding and weather induced crises. Medical and
health related organizations are naturally focused on sudden crises to
the health of a community.
Humanitarian crisis may arise from both natural and human-made
conflicts and disasters. Humanitarian crisis from natural disasters
include tsunami, earthquake, hurricane, floods, droughts, and wildfires
that may result in disruption through damage to property, physical
injury and death, psychological distress, displacement of individuals
and families, and prolonged disruption in normal daily activities. On
the other hand, crisis from manmade disasters such as wars, social
unrest, protests, conflicts, and terrorist attacks have a broad range of
impacts on the physical, mental, and social well-being of the
individuals affected.
An ongoing or lingering pandemic may amount to a humanitarian crisis, especially where there are increasing levels of virulence, or rates of infection as in the case of AIDS, bird flu or tuberculosis. Major health-related problems such as cancer, global warming typically require an accentuated or punctuated mass-event to justify a label of "crisis" or "disaster".
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(IFRC) lists categories which include different types of natural
disasters, technological disasters (i.e. hazardous material spills, Chernobyl-type
nuclear accidents, chemical explosions) and long-term human-made
disasters related to "civil strife, civil war and international war". Internationally, the humanitarian response sector has tended to
distinguish between natural disasters and complex emergencies which are
related to armed conflict and wars.
Impacts
Women's social status in humanitarian crises
Female refugees sitting on the ground in Pakistan.
Socially, women and children (mostly girls) receive a significantly
decreased amount of attention in response to humanitarian crises. Women
and children make up 3 quarters of refugees or displaced persons at risk
post-crisis. A quarter of this population is of reproduction age and a
fifth of this population is likely to be pregnant. In times of emergency
and such crises, deaths associated with pregnancy, reproductive health,
sexual violence and sexual exploitation increase drastically especially
amongst females. During such emergencies, women lose access to family
planning services, prenatal care, postpartum care and other health
services. The heightened risk of female health and safety makes them
vulnerable to disease, violence and death.
Non-profit organizations such as the Women's Refugee Commission deal with aiding particularly women suffering from various types of humanitarian crises. According to the Women's Refugee Commission, during the first hours of a
humanitarian crisis, women and young children are at most risk. During
such an event, agencies and organizations approach matters variably.
However, the top critical requirements within hours and months of the
crises include: keeping the refugees and internally displaced persons
away from danger, allowing access to fundamental needs such as food and
healthcare, identification information, preventing sexual violence and
others.
Socio-economic realities of humanitarian crises
Economic
issues can lead to humanitarian crises or humanitarian crises can lead
to economic downfalls. If it occurs after a humanitarian crisis affects a
nation, it is imperative to return the livelihoods in the economic
settings of the nation. One of the critical needs on the Women's Refugee Commission's list is
providing education and economic opportunities in order to maintain the
economic qualities of the region. It is done by using the skills of the
displaced persons or refugees involved to provide them with
opportunities to gain income.
If it occurs as a cause of humanitarian crisis, the society would
have been in a state of civil insecurity and economic shortfalls, which
could cause the government to collapse. This can also result from food
insecurity, famines, corruptions and various other issues. Direct
effects of this situation include human rights violations, violence and
mass murders.
The El Niño weather pattern is expected to exacerbate hunger,
displacement, and health risks globally. Governments and organizations
like the UN Food and Agriculture Organization are focusing on anticipatory action and early response to mitigate the effects of climate-induced damage.
Environmental and ecological impacts
In the cases of humanitarian crises, especially natural disasters
such as tornadoes, tsunamis and earthquakes, these incidences leave
environmental and ecological impacts on the regions affected. The
aftermaths of natural disasters can lead to a significant decrease in
natural resources while making the region prone to future issues. For example, if a forest fire occurs in a large region, the area may be
susceptible to air pollution, dust clouds, release of carcinogenic
gases and others. Forest ecological wildlife, for example, is severely
impacted by such events. In the cases of water natural disasters such as
floods and tsunamis, extensive damage due to the water is prevalent. Fish, corals and other ocean life is impacted, which further impacts the livelihoods of fishermen.
According to the World Bank data, there is a worrying water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa. The Stockholm International Water Institute emphasizes the need for
urgent action in water policy, and suggests decentralizing
decision-making to better manage the crisis.
Mental health impacts
Mental health
impacts can cause additional concerns for populations affected by
humanitarian crises. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that
one in five individuals in a disaster-impacted population may already
suffer from a mental health disorder that could then be exacerbated by
the disaster context. Mental health disorders included in this estimate range from mild
anxiety and/or depression to severe and persistent conditions like
bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Acute mental health impacts
The
stress of a humanitarian crisis can cause acute, or short-term, anxiety
in the population of people affected. Humanitarian crises often
displace people from their homes and cut off their access to resources,
which affects their ability to meet their basic needs and creates
significant anxiety. This acute anxiety may impact the population's capacity to care for
themselves via the resources provided by humanitarian aid groups in the
short-term. Acute mental health impacts can also hinder a population's recovery capacity in rebuilding after a crisis. Acute stress can exacerbate pre-existing conditions for individuals
who already suffer from mental health disorders, making serious
conditions like depression or schizophrenia more difficult to live with.
Chronic mental health impacts
If
left untreated, acute mental health impacts from humanitarian crises
can become chronic conditions. Large studies estimate that anywhere
between 9 and 40% of refugee populations suffer from post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) brought on by the crisis that led to their
refugee status. These studies also showed a significant proportion of crisis-affected populations (between 5 and 30%) experiencing depression. Though a few large studies have been conducted, research gaps exist in
investigating chronic mental health impacts of humanitarian crises,
which is why these estimates have so much variation. PTSD along with moderate to severe depression and anxiety can be life-long disorders without adequate and prompt treatment.
Responses
The
WHO and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) recommend that
mental health care should be an integral part of emergency response
during a humanitarian crisis. The type of mental health care provided can range and vary based on the
context and resources but can include mental health first aid on the
front lines, community support groups, and routine clinical mental
health care. The WHO also recommends that countries enhance their mental healthcare
systems outside of the context of a humanitarian crisis so that
individuals affected by crises can have access to the care they need
once the emergency response is over. A 2020 Cochrane review of psychological and social interventions for
the prevention of mental disorders for individuals living in areas
affected by humanitarian crisis found the need for better studies to
determine the impact of interventions following a review of current
studies. Research states that mental health is often neglected by first
responders. Disaster can have lasting psychological impacts on those
affected. When individuals are supported in processing their emotional
experiences to the disaster this leads to increases in resilience,
increases in the capacity to help others through crises, and increases
in community engagement. When processing of emotional experiences is
done in a collective manner, this leads to greater solidarity following
disaster. As such, emotional experiences have an inherent adaptiveness
within them, however the opportunity for these to be reflected on and
processed is necessary for this growth to occur.
Sustainable solutions
British humanitarian services bringing aid to a Sierra Leone village recovering from war.
There is no singular solution to any one humanitarian crisis. Often,
the primary cause of a humanitarian crisis is intertwined with several
other factors. Further, one repercussion can lead to another which may
lead to another. For instance, in the case of a flood, fish and ocean
life is impacted, an environmental and ecological impact. This can
further impact humans the source of income for fishermen, an economical
impact. This causes the residents of this particular area to be stripped
from their source of food and their culture of consuming sea fish. This
can lead to women and children being forced to work in dangerous
conditions to gain income and food, a social impact. Evidently, one
crisis can have many impacts that are interconnected with one another
and there is no single solution. The Feinstein International Center
at Tufts University works to understand and find solutions to the
intersection of various factors that contribute to humanitarian crisis.
Preparing for humanitarian crises
Disaster
preparedness is critical to building both national and international
capacity to prevent, respond to, and recover from humanitarian
emergencies. Disaster preparedness activities can be categorized into
material preparedness (building to code, avoiding building in hazardous
areas, strengthening homes, preparing emergency kits, etc.) and into
behavioral preparedness (training, early warning, disaster insurance,
etc.). The international community possesses five key to key entities
for guidance programming, research, and funding for disaster
preparedness capacity-building:
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction: The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction implements the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).
The UNISDR, led by the United Nations Special Representative of the
Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, serves, “…as the focal
point in the United Nations system for the coordination of disaster
reduction and to ensure synergies among disaster reduction activities". A component of UNISDR work is implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)Archived 14 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine:
OCHA is a United Nations office, “…responsible for bringing together
humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies." OCHA's leader operates as both the Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and as the Emergency Relief Coordinator, advocating
for increased awareness of, preparedness for, and response to
humanitarian emergencies worldwide. As the Emergency Relief Coordinator, the OCHA lead also chairs the Inter-Agency Standing Committee.
Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC):
The IASC provides a forum for both UN-affiliated and non-UN-affiliated
organizations to coordinate action regarding humanitarian policies,
advocacy, and response evaluation and improvement. In 2005, the IASC released its Transformative Agenda
with 10 protocols to, “…improve the effectiveness of humanitarian
response through greater predictability, accountability, responsibility
and partnership". Protocol 8: “Common Framework for Preparedness” and Protocol 9: ”Emergency Response Preparedness”
provide guidance countries and humanitarians can implement for risk
assessment and preparedness planning. Additionally, IASC also oversees
global humanitarian clusters as a part of the Cluster Approach.
Global Clusters:
To aid coordination during the humanitarian programme cycle, the UN
established the Cluster Approach. Clusters are groups of humanitarian
organizations with explicit responsibilities for coordinating action
within each humanitarian sector. Preparedness is fundamental to the Cluster Approach, with leaders
within each global cluster working to build international capacity by
developing standards, setting policy, and sharing leading practices for
their sector before a humanitarian emergency occurs.
Many actors are involved in the strategic management of humanitarian crises and emergencies. The United Nations
(UN) serves as the primary international actor in humanitarian crisis
oversight but has extended responsibilities and management roles to
improve the efficiency of crisis responses. With the development of a
cluster system, the UN's official organs have incorporated international organizations (IOs), international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) into the coordination of crisis management.
By expanding the responsibility for humanitarian crises beyond
the UN's singular authority, the number of actors involved in the
coordination of the system has simultaneously increased. Requiring further attention to efficient cooperation in-between actors.
Specifically, human-made crises, which differ from natural disasters in
their fundamental origin of imposing humanitarian threats, create distinct challenges to appropriate crisis responses because of
the new essence of conflicts. Today, conflicts are more frequently
domestically fought rather than across national borders. Such
development of crises has changed the ways humans are affected by
conflict and asks for new response strategies to meet the needs of the
people at risk. Thus, the multiple actors involved in human-made humanitarian crises,
are faced with a challenging environment to establish efficient
management and cooperation over the situation.
INGOs and NGOs are part of the clustered system of responsible
actors in the management of humanitarian crises. They share
organizational characteristics of a detachment from state association
and a position of objectivity but differ in their level of operation. INGOs operate internationally, and NGOs pertain to a domestic level of activity. Non-governmental organizations overall have a non-profit structure,
which means that they are solely providing services for the good of the
population at risk and in need of assistance, without expectations of
return benefits. Which allows them to focus on solidarity efforts in
serving human needs and protecting human rights. The organizations are
thus dependent on volunteers' investment in the shared vision of the
entity. Their work also includes preventive efforts of serving as experts to
deliver knowledge on management practices to the other actors. Additionally, by centering their work around a shared vision of
establishing long-term peace through coordinated strategies of
reconciliation and conflict assistance, they seek to efficiently fulfill
their role in the humanitarian crisis management cluster.
The 2017 humanitarian crisis in Myanmar
is an example that recognizes the unique position NGOs have and the
responsibilities they serve in the international community. The crisis
was acknowledged internationally when the ethnic group of the Rohingya
had suffered from violent discrimination and denial of human rights for
an extensive period. The Myanmar government prevented aid from both the
UN and neighboring countries to support the ongoing crisis. Instead,
the Indonesian government established a strategic cluster of cooperation
between local NGOs in Indonesia and Myanmar. The alliance received the
name of The Indonesian Humanitarian Alliance (AKIM) and provided relief
to the exposed Rohingya people by getting around the barriers put in
place by the Myanmar government. Several international NGOs were also involved in Myanmar to deliver
appropriate relief. Their assistance allowed limited contact with the
national government in Myanmar yet reached beneficial agreements with
other local authorities, as well as established communication and
cooperation with local NGOs and UN actors. However, because of the large
number of actors involved in the crisis, the organizations faced
challenges in the coordination between actors to provide efficient and
non-coinciding crisis management.
In addition to the coordination aspect and its significance in
humanitarian crisis management provided by NGOs, there is another
potential strategy highlighting efficient communication to implement
sufficient responses. NGOs often have to work with a diverse set of
actors which may present challenges to efficient cooperation if
expectations and goals divide across partnerships. To overcome obstacles
within diverse interactions, NGOs may utilize three strategic
environments of operation to establish efficient communication between
parties. First, the “internal workplace” considers the diverse environment closely working with the NGOs,
consisting of the organization's employees and volunteers from the
crisis exposed area. Second, the “inter-organizational forum” addresses the communication line between the multiple NGOs assisting in
the specific crisis, including the local authorities and the
appropriate reporting to UN agencies. Last, “community relations” recognizes the multicultural dimension of the communication between NGO employees and the individuals at risk of the crisis. The communication and coordination between the various actors in
humanitarian crises are essential components for ensuring security,
limiting the conflict, and overall delivering efficient crisis
management.
Besides the attention to efficient coordination of actors and the
recognition of diverse environments of communication, NGOs can also
adopt strategic thinking in their work with humanitarian crises. What
identifies the approach of strategic thinking is an overarching
awareness of the environment of the particular crisis and the context of
the organization assisting. With a broader understanding of the needs
of the people at risk, and what the organization wishes to accomplice
with its work, there is a greater chance for a successful outcome for
both parties. Strategic thinking, coordination of actors, and efficient communication
in diverse environments are all potential strategies that NGOs can use
on both international and local levels to address humanitarian crises.
As each organization and crisis is different, there is no such thing as a
perfect strategy to manage humanitarian crises across the board. Instead, it is suggested to use methods such as strategic thinking,
coordination, and communication to develop a response that is suitable
for the specific situation and allows for successful management of
serving human needs and protecting human rights.
