In the humanitarian field those we rather mockingly call 'French doctors' seem always to be in the vanguard, the first to arrive in any critical situation. If they hold such a position in modern humanitarian intervention it is because these French doctors - first and foremost Medecins Sans Frontieres and its 'little sister' Medecins du Monde - have created a style of humanitarian action that combines intervention in crises with critical assessment of and commentary on the human tragedies -- wars, famines, earthquakes -- in which they find themselves involved. The humanitarian practices we are familiar with today were devised, through trial and errors, by agencies in the United States, Great Britain and Switzerland. France was the last to join the group of so-called 'founder democracies' in the humanitarian field. A closer examination of the history of humanitarianism reveals that it was by drawing on already existing forms of action that MSF, MDM and many others gradually developed its particular brand of intervention, which combines relief practices learnt from the Red Cross with efforts to mobilise public opinion using strategies invented by Amnesty International. The contributors to this volume assess the competing French and 'Anglo-Saxon' models of intervention in the hope of learning from both and formulating approaches to humanitarianism for the twenty-first century. CONTRIBUTORS: Philippe Ryfman, Hugo Slim, Egbert Sondorp, Francois Grunewald, Hugh Goyder, Sami Makki, James Darcy, Christophe Courtin, Adeel Jafferi.

In the humanitarian field those we rather mockingly call "French doctors" seem always to be in the vanguard, the first to arrive in any critical situation. If they hold such a position in modern humanitarian intervention it is because Medecins Sans Frontieres, and its 'little sister' Medecins du Monde, have drawn on the experiences of other organizations gradually to develop their particular brand of intervention; France was after all the last to join the group of so-called "founder democracies" in the humanitarian field.
This detailed study of the comparative history of humanitarianism reveals that it was by learning from forms of action devised by agencies in the United States, Great Britain and Switzerland, that MSF, MDM and many others sought to combine relief practices (learnt from the Red Cross) with efforts to mobilize public opinion (using strategies invented by Amnesty International) in the way that they do.
The contributors assess the competing French and "Anglo-Saxon" models of intervention and propose approaches to humanitarianism for the twenty-first century.