Voluntary Organisations, the Red Cross, and the Features of Humanitarian Reconstruction in Western Europe after the World Wars

This book explores the ways in which non-government organisations have contributed to the reconstruction of, and care for populations in, Western European countries including but not limited to Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the World Wars.

Historical research on voluntary or non-government organisations and their contribution to the reconstruction of states, communities and humanitarian assistance to civilian populations following conflicts, epidemics and disasters through the twentieth century has generally focused on non-Western European countries, except for Second World War II. The historiography suggests that it is mostly in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa that natural or man-made disasters have occurred and that these places have been the focus for humanitarian assistance. Rather, the humanitarian enterprise is viewed through the binary of the Global North/Global South, those who save and those who are saved. The chapters in this volume investigate how the Red Cross movement – the League of Red Cross Societies, the International Committee of Red Cross and individual national societies – and other voluntary organisations such as the Rockefeller Foundation and a range of other international and local non-government bodies have contributed to reconstruction in these countries at both national and local levels following times of crises such as wars, civilian upheavals and disasters.

This book will appeal to scholars and students of history, humanitarian studies, international relations and social sciences. The chapters in this book were originally published as special issues in European Review of History – Revue européenne d'histoire.

Romain Fathi is Senior Lecturer in History at the School of History at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, and an affiliated researcher at the Centre d’Histoire de Sciences Po, Paris, France.

Melanie Oppenheimer is Honorary Professor of History at Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, and formerly Professor and Chair of History, now Professor Emerita at Flinders University, Australia.

Paul-André Rosental is Full Professor at Sciences Po, Paris, France, and Director of its Centre for History. He is the founder and the manager of ESOPP, a research program devoted to the social and political history of population.