German Humanitarian Aid: More "Europeanisation" As A Way Forward?

This paper investigates how to enhance the amount of attention that humanitarian issues receive within German public discourse while at the same time shielding the German humanitarian system from undue political interference. Such a question is tackled through an analysis of both primary and secondary sources as well as through the carrying out of dozens of semi-structured interviews with humanitarian stakeholders both in Germany and abroad. Thanks to this approach, on the one hand the first half of the paper investigates the challenges arising from the twin problems of unwarranted political interference and low political profile of humanitarian issues within German public discourse. On the other hand, the second part of the paper moves on to explore possible avenues through which the German humanitarian aid system could shield itself from unwarranted political interference while at the same time enhancing the profile of humanitarian issues within German public discourse. In light of the evidence collected, this paper argues that a greater degree of Europeanisation of the German humanitarian aid system could be key to achieving these twin objectives.