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The humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon
has become one of the most populist causes in the world, yet the
causes of the crisis have been misrepresented, whilst on-going
humanitarian assistance could arguably be said to amplify problems
that exist in the camps. Shedding light on the disturbing
occurrence of corruption, rent-seeking and racketeering, together
with the emergence of zones of privatised territory based on
self-enrichment, this book challenges the conception of refugees in
camps as helpless, vulnerable individuals. Based on detailed and
sustained research at the camp of Shatila in Beirut, Humanitarian
Rackets and their Moral Hazards reveals that even the access of
humanitarian agencies to the camp is determined by payment to
certain refugee groups, whilst the degree of humanitarian
interaction has created a sense of entitlement amongst some, based
on a belief in their own exceptionalism as a displaced ethnic
group. Detailing the everyday economic transactions that transpire
in refugee camps, this book shows that, far from being helpless
victims with no power over their circumstances, many Palestinian
refugees have created lucrative ventures from humanitarian
assistance. A rich, yet troubling study of refugee life and the
'cartelisation' of camp space, this book will be of interest to
sociologists, anthropologists and political scientists working in
the fields of humanitarian intervention, development, criminology
and informal economies.
The humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon
has become one of the most populist causes in the world, yet the
causes of the crisis have been misrepresented, whilst on-going
humanitarian assistance could arguably be said to amplify problems
that exist in the camps. Shedding light on the disturbing
occurrence of corruption, rent-seeking and racketeering, together
with the emergence of zones of privatised territory based on
self-enrichment, this book challenges the conception of refugees in
camps as helpless, vulnerable individuals. Based on detailed and
sustained research at the camp of Shatila in Beirut, Humanitarian
Rackets and their Moral Hazards reveals that even the access of
humanitarian agencies to the camp is determined by payment to
certain refugee groups, whilst the degree of humanitarian
interaction has created a sense of entitlement amongst some, based
on a belief in their own exceptionalism as a displaced ethnic
group. Detailing the everyday economic transactions that transpire
in refugee camps, this book shows that, far from being helpless
victims with no power over their circumstances, many Palestinian
refugees have created lucrative ventures from humanitarian
assistance. A rich, yet troubling study of refugee life and the
'cartelisation' of camp space, this book will be of interest to
sociologists, anthropologists and political scientists working in
the fields of humanitarian intervention, development, criminology
and informal economies.
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