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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Comparative Governance
Volume 7 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1358889
This article is part of the Research Topic The Nexus between Civil Society and Authoritarian Practices in Times of Crisis View all 5 articles
Authoritarian practices on the rise? Reflections from a Médecins Sans Frontières research programme on the engagement between international humanitarian non-governmental organisations and states
Provisionally accepted- 1 Other, London, United Kingdom
- 2 Médecins Sans Frontières, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The engagement between international humanitarian non-government organisations (INGOs) and states has long been a contested space. This theme has become more pertinent against the backdrop of a widely perceived global 'rise in authoritarianism'. This paper presents research by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) into factors influencing INGO-state engagement. The research examined the principal factors that influence the attitudes that states take towards international humanitarian NGOs working on their territories during situations of crisis. This paper reviews the findings from four field case studies (Bangladesh, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Chad, and Italy) as well as findings from a desk study on the current situation in Afghanistan and a review of MSF's history with states. The research was grounded in a theoretical framework which integrates the concepts of authoritarian practices (Glasius), regulatory practices, the differentiation between strategic and tactical levels of engagement, and conceptions of legitimacy.
Keywords: Humanitarian access, states, humanitarian crises and aid, MSF, Authoritarian practices
Received: 20 Dec 2023; Accepted: 22 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cunningham and Healy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Andrew Cunningham, Other, London, United Kingdom
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