Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality - Chapter 03 - Humanitarianism and the global Cold War, 1945–1991

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024.

This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 03 - Humanitarianism and the global Cold War, 1945–1991- contributed by Margot Tudor.

From the introduction
During the twentieth century, international humanitarian organisations were shaped by the geopolitical pressures and demands of the global Cold War, shifting to adapt to evolving conflicts and disasters whilst navigating complex ideological alignments. A term popularised by historian Orne Arne Westad, the ‘global Cold War’ refers to the expansive, world-spanning implications of the Cold War (Westad, 2005). As an approach, it sheds light on and encourages a more expansive approach to the ways in which existing domestic or regional tensions and hierarchies were exacerbated by the superpower conflict and spanned the globe (Krepp et al., 2020). It also enables historians to trace and identify the impact of Cold War politics and militarism on countries outside of the two superpowers. This chapter draws attention to the effects of the Cold War on displaced populations in Europe and decolonising communities in the Global South – demonstrating how ideological antagonism prioritised political posturing above compassionate humanitarian solutions and encouraged – and legitimised – international interventionism into other sovereign nations (Mazurkiewicz, 2020).
As collaboration between the Second World War Allies – Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union – began to dissolve in the mid-1940s, the ideological separation of communism versus capitalism had ramifications across the humanitarian sphere as principles such as impartiality and objectivity were tested by the ideological line-drawing. Just as decolonisation processes promised liberation, the ‘moment of opportunity’ also provoked destabilisation and regime changes across the Global South. Taking advantage of this diplomatic reshuffle, the United States and the Soviet Union struggled against one another for global political dominance, imbuing regional conflicts with international stakes (such as in Congo and Cyprus).
Along these Global South front lines, the Cold War became ‘hot’ as the two superpowers donated financial and military aid to ideologically aligned nations and political movements (Bevins, 2020). Due to the violent nature of these interactions and their international attention, humanitarian organisations became directly involved in responding to these conflicts as the Cold War perpetuated violence and suffering across the Global South. Thus, rather than a conflict that was limited to diplomatic posturing and threats of nuclear deployment between the Soviet Union and the United States, the Cold War had direct physical and political implications for populations in the decolonising Global South during the mid-twentieth century, often exacerbating and extending suffering on the ground (Namikas, 2015).

Note on contributor
Margot Tudor is a lecturer in foreign policy and security in the International Politics Department at City, University of London.
Her book Blue Helmet Bureaucrats: United Nations Peacekeeping and the Reinvention of Colonialism, 1945–1971 was published by Cambridge University Press in 2023.
She undertook her PhD in Humanitarianism and Conflict Response at the University of Manchester from 2017–2020. In 2021, she was awarded the Michael Nicholson Thesis Prize by BISA and was runner-up for the BIHG’s Michael Dockrill Thesis Prize.

Overviews are already available for the following chapters:
Introduction: humanitarianism and inequality – a re-orientation

Humanitarianism and colonialism