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Vive la difference? Humanitarian and political approaches to engaging armed groups David Petrasek (2005) David Petrasek explores the relationship between humanitarian initiatives focused on preventing and mitigating the consequences of war and political initiatives focused on ending war, recognizing that in practice each impinges upon the other. Lessons from humanitarian engagements are identified, the potential for humanitarian engagement to be a ‘door-opener’ is explored, and examples cited of humanitarian agreements that led to discussions of ceasefires, security and political issues. Problems include humanitarian talks being used as an easy means of gaining legitimacy or to postpone serious negotiations aimed at ending the conflict, or humanitarian space in which suffering can be mitigated being sacrificed for the sake of negotiation strategy – with bad consequences if talks fail.
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