Abstract
This special issue is the second of a two-part series guest edited by Alistair D. B. Cook and Lina Gong that examine how countries and regional organisation in Asia and the Pacific understand and conduct humanitarian diplomacy. The current issue consists of perspectives from Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. Gomez explains why Japan has been at the periphery of the international humanitarian system. He advances two explanations for Japan's peripheral standing, which include the difficulty for Japan to adapt to the humanitarian institutions that are dominated by western norms and values, and Japan's strength and preference for an integrated approach to humanitarian crises through multiple international cooperation means. Marzuki and Tiola discuss Indonesia's perspectives and scope of humanitarian engagement which include providing emergency relief in conflict and non-conflict settings as well as participating in UN peacekeeping operations. They argue that Indonesia's own struggle with disasters and its identity as a member of ASEAN and a Muslim-majority country are key factors shaping its conduct of humanitarian diplomacy.
Trajano examines the humanitarian diplomacy conducted in the context of the US-Philippine security alliance. He argues that the Philippines’ evolving norms of disaster management have broadly influenced the US’ humanitarian diplomacy for the Philippines, which increasingly puts further emphasis on disaster preparedness, community resilience and local capability. He demonstrates the agency of a country affected by natural hazards in shaping the relationship with its most important assistance provider, the United States. Atienza and Quilala examine the role of NGOs in the localization of humanitarian diplomacy in the Philippines in conflict and disaster settings through two cases, namely Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 and the Marawi crisis in 2017. Their article focuses on how NGOs mobilise their networks, resources and links in housing and livelihood projects to assist the affected communities as a lived experience of humanitarian diplomacy in action.
The discussions in parts I and II of this special issue present four new trends in the humanitarian sector, which can influence the understanding and conduct of humanitarian diplomacy. These trends are the evolving humanitarian diplomatic conduct of traditional donors, the rise of new donors with good experience in domestic disaster management, the transformation of traditional security alliances and the localisation of humanitarian action. The findings add nuances to the existing understanding of humanitarian diplomacy by providing perspectives of the Asia-Pacific region. The discussions lay the groundwork for the further examination of domestic sources of humanitarian diplomacy and comparative studies of humanitarian diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific with implications for, and a corrective to, the dominant Euro-centric narratives in the global humanitarian system.
