The Safety of Strangers: the realities and politics of protecting civilians in times of war

Naomi Pendle; Thomas Kirk

doi:10.1111/1758-5899.13499

The Safety of Strangers: the realities and politics of protecting civilians in times of war

Naomi Pendle
, Thomas Kirk

London School of Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Recent wars have brutally shown that civilians are not safe. This is despite high-level global commitments and multi-billion-dollar humanitarian spending to keep civilian strangers protected. The high civilian death tolls in recent armed conflicts are prompting new questions about how and if we can protect civilians in times of war, and what the real politics of such protection is. In this special section and its introduction, we argue that it is essential to pay attention to civilians' actual experiences of protection and their own strategies for staying safe. Normative schemes, including those that seek to offer safety to strangers, are always contested and negotiated and are always bound up in claims for legitimacy, power and public authority. We argue that it is in civilians' quotidian experiences of staying safe that we can best see and understand the local, national and international politics of civilian protection, as well as the forms of safety that are prioritised by civilians themselves. To do this, the special section draws together qualitative, ethnographic and ethnomusicological research in Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda to shed light on how the international community can keep civilians safe.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	64-68
Number of pages	5
Journal	Global Policy
Volume	16
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13499
Publication status	Published - 28 Feb 2025

Funding

We are incredibly grateful for the time, effort and dedication that the authors of this special section have shown over time, as well as the research participants that contributed to their studies. Their research for these articles was not only interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also by continuing and new armed conflicts. Some of the authors in this special section, since the start of their research in 2020, have even had to flee with their families from war and have themselves experienced the realities of being unprotected civilians. Despite this, their articles are published, and we are so impressed. We are also incredibly grateful to Professor Tim Allen (London School of Economics and Political Science) who conceived of the project that funded this research. He remains a key advocate for demanding that we pay attention to the real, micro politics of protection as it is actually experienced by those civilians whom people and institutions claim to protect. We are also thankful to the Safety of Strangers grant funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/T007524/1). We are also incredibly grateful to Professor Tim Allen (London School of Economics and Political Science) who conceived of the project that funded this research. He remains a key advocate for demanding that we pay attention to the real, micro politics of protection as it is actually experienced by those civilians whom people and institutions claim to protect. We are also thankful to the Safety of Strangers grant funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/T007524/1).

Funders	Funder number
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Arts and Humanities Research Council	AH/T007524/1

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

armed conflict
civlians
humanitarian
protection
war

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Global and Planetary Change
Economics and Econometrics
Political Science and International Relations
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Law

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10.1111/1758-5899.13499Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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The Safety of Strangers: the realities and politics of protecting civilians in times of war

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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