Professorkvalifiseringens affektive økonomi. Styring, følelser og motstand

The Rise and Fall of Humanitarian Citizen Initiatives: A Simulation-Based Approach

Citizen Initiatives for Global Solidarity (CIGS) are small, ad hoc, volunteer organizations that arise in certain humanitarian and development contexts. They operate outside of traditional aid structures and may or may not cooperate with traditional government and nongovernmental organizations. Using agent-based modeling, we derive narrative-based, qualitative scenarios from simulation data to extend the theoretical discussions of CIGS as a phenomenon. The scenarios allow further discussion of the role that CIGS may play as development and humanitarian response actors outside of the traditional context-specific descriptions of CIGS that permeate the development literature. We find that scen…

Beyond crisis management? The role of Citizen Initiatives for Global Solidarity in humanitarian aid: the case of Lesvos

In recent years, what has been called citizen initiatives for global solidarity (CIGS) have grown considerably in numbers across Europe and beyond. Lately, CIGS have also received attention as they...

Localizing Global Solidarity: Humanitarian Aid in Lesvos

The so-called “refugee crisis” in Lesvos, Greece provides a poignant example of situated, local suffering that has called for the coordination of global resources to provide relief. Some of the first to respond were local and international Citizen Initiatives for Global Solidarity (CIGS). While a growing role for CIGS has been interpreted as a call for more global involvement, arguments for the increased localization of relief efforts suggest the need for aid agents to maintain a reflexive awareness of the potential for an influx of outside assistance to disempower those most affected. We argue that barriers to implementing the localization of humanitarian aid can be better understood by po…

Citizens as Actors in the Development Field: The Case of an Accidental Aid-Agent’s Activities in Aid-Land

AbstractThis article explores a so far little researched aspect of the Norwegian development aid – the privatised, personalised aid giving. Elsewhere in Europe, researchers have explored this phenomenon, which they refer to as citizen initiatives (CIs) for global solidarity [Pollet, I., R. Habraken, L. Schulpen and H. Huyse, 2014, The Accidental Aid Worker: A Mapping of Citizen Initiatives for Global Solidarity in Europe, Nijmegen: KU Leuven/HIVA and CIDIN]. This phenomenon coincides with a generalised crisis in the established state-sponsored international aid industry reflecting the extended financial crisis. Against the background of a first exploratory mapping of CIs in Norway, we discu…

Model Co-creation from a Modeler’s Perspective: Lessons Learned from the Collaboration Between Ethnographers and Modelers

This paper reports on the authors’ ongoing collaboration on model co-creation, a process that involves not only the reconciliation of methodologies (qualitative vs. quantitative), but also of epistemologies (empirical vs empirical/rationalist) and ontologies (observable referent vs. abstracted referent). The co-creation process has taken place over several months, from early 2017, both in person, teleconferencing and via email. The result was an ethnographic model of the refugee situation in Lesbos, Greece. The qualifier “ethnographic” means that the simulation’s purpose was to capture the problem situation described by ethnographers in a manner that resembles their observations, not to ans…

The Role Of Elites In The Diffusion Of Social Norms Of Humanitarianism

Certain social norms evolve without punishment as conventions that do not adversely affect society. In this paper, we depart from the notion that humanitarianism is one such social norm, where peer pressure may be the only type of punishment that encourages individuals to conform. Using an agent-based modeling approach, we examine the role that networked elites have in diffusing a non-punishment-enforced norm through an artificial society. The model considers norm advocates who promote a norm of humanitarianism, elites who have wide networks to spread the new norm, and general individuals who evaluate the norm pushed from elites and adopted by their peers. The study finds that, regardless o…

Eco‐tourism Certification – Does it Make a Difference? A Comparison of Systems from Australia, Costa Rica and Sweden

Abstract In the current context of climate change, discussions about tourism sustainability are gaining increased momentum. Over the past decade, some operators worldwide have started to certify their products and services as ecotourism or sustainable tourism. A certification or approval is considered to be a sign of general high product quality as well as an indication of environmentally and socially sound products. In this research note, we examine three different ecotourism certification and approval systems – from Sweden, Costa Rica and Australia. The note is based on a literature review of three different approval systems, conducted parallel to the planning of the Norwegian approval sy…