Introduction: Commodifying humanitarian sentiments? The black box of the for-profit and non-profit partnership

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftLederpeer review

Abstract

While many scholars, practitioners and policymakers alike assume that collaborative ventures between for-profits and non-profits will jointly mobilize their respective strategies, strengths and understandings, the for-profit and non-profit partnership remains a black box. Critics fear it is a Pandora’s box of challenges that may include compromising the legitimacy of civil society, impeding (state) accountability mechanisms, and obscuring problematic social relations by shifting the focus from human needs to commodities (Baur and Schmitz, 2012, Richey, 2014, Scheyvens et al., 2016, Christiansen and Olwig, 2019). Examining humanitarian and development interventions, this special issue pries open the black box by illuminating the processes of merging business interests and humanitarian sentiments in order to elucidate the resulting tensions, paradoxes and possibilities. This is a matter of key importance in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) era of new actor constellations, hierarchies and relations.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer105536
TidsskriftWorld Development
Vol/bind145
Antal sider4
ISSN0305-750X
DOI
StatusUdgivet - sep. 2021

Emneord

  • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  • Development
  • Partnerships
  • Sustainability
  • Private sector

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