The Journal of Peacebuilding & Development (JPD) is delighted to announce the release of Volume 21, Issue 2, a special issue titled “Rethinking Humanitarianism in Age of Collapse: Critical Perspectives from Gaza and Beyond", edited by Ghassan Elkahlout.
This special issue brings together critical perspectives on the mounting challenges facing humanitarianism across Gaza and other conflict-affected contexts. Its contributions examine the collapse and politicisation of humanitarian action, testimonial injustice, educide, humanitarian diplomacy, mediation, community-driven reconstruction, and the regional consequences of political transformation.
Four of the issue's eight articles place Gaza at the centre of wider debates on the crisis of contemporary humanitarianism. One article examines the obstruction and politicisation of humanitarian assistance and the broader collapse of the international humanitarian system during the genocide in Gaza. Another explores the ethical significance of oral testimonies and how their meaning and authority can be distorted in humanitarian crises. A third analyses the deliberate destruction of educational infrastructure as a strategy to suppress resistance and consolidate control.
The remaining articles extend the issue's analysis to other conflict-affected settings. One critically examines humanitarian diplomacy and international efforts to address the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. Another analyses how three international news organisations framed the US–Taliban negotiations and Qatar's role as a mediator. A further contribution explores how community-driven reconstruction can address sources of division in societies undergoing peace transitions through the case of Yemen. The final research article examines how humanitarian organisations navigate insecurity and uncertainty in Afghanistan following the Taliban's return to power.
The special issue also includes two briefings. The first examines the demonisation of UNRWA and considers possible pathways forward. The second explores the shared histories and evolving relationship between Lebanon and Syria in the post-Assad era. The issue concludes with the regular Resources section.
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