Wilkinson, O. orcid.org/0000-0002-1739-3221 and Tomalin, E. orcid.org/0000-0001-7722-1192 (2023) Secular-Religious Dynamics and their Effect on Humanitarian Norms Compliance. Journal of Human Rights Practice. ISSN 1757-9619
Abstract
We propose a more nuanced examination of the powerful forces that play a role in shaping the view shared by many international humanitarians that religions have a predominantly negative influence. First, we examine the role of secularist underpinnings of humanitarian discourse in shaping secular-religious dynamics in the humanitarian sphere, and the intersection of this with other forces of power. We argue that analyses of secular-religious dynamics are essential to understanding the roles of and attitudes towards faith actors in humanitarian norms compliance as well as the actions and reactions of faith and humanitarian actors. Theoretically, we ground the article in an analysis of secular perspectives towards impartiality and neutrality, the observation of which is meant to secure humanitarian space. Interrogating secular perspectives on humanitarian action helps demonstrate how impartiality and neutrality can be used as reasons to avoid engagement with faith actors. A secular approach to humanitarian action tolerates religion with boundary-creation around what is permitted from faith actors, applying a reductive ‘good’/‘bad’ binary. We then examine the experiences of local faith actors (LFAs) in South Sudan in interaction with international humanitarians with respect to humanitarian principles. These examples demonstrate how LFAs comply with humanitarian principles and view this as part and parcel of their commitment to the values of their faith tradition. They also show how LFAs create space for humanitarian norms compliance of other actors through their peacebuilding work and have been relied upon to access parts of the country that are inaccessible to international humanitarians due to safety concerns.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | faith actor; humanitarian; humanitarian norms compliance; humanitarian principles; religious; secular |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (Leeds) > Theology and Religious Studies (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 02 Nov 2023 16:11 |
Last Modified: | 02 Nov 2023 16:11 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/jhuman/huad013 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:204852 |