Author Archives: Eleanor Davey

About Eleanor Davey

Eleanor Davey writes about histories of humanitarian aid and activism, and how historical perspectives can inform current understandings. Her book Idealism beyond Borders: The French Revolutionary Left and the Rise of Humanitarianism, 1954–1988 examined how ideas about responsibility for the suffering of others shaped political and humanitarian engagements in France, including the creation of Médecins Sans Frontières. Eleanor has previously researched and taught humanitarian affairs in ODI’s Humanitarian Policy Group (London) and the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (University of Manchester), and was editor at Humanitarian Advisory Group (Melbourne).

French Responses to the Bosnian Crisis: Humanitarianism, Genocide, and Memory

March 3, 2026 by
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Abstract This article explores the use of multidirectional memories in humanitarian and interventionist discourses in France during the first half of the 1990s. It does this through two sets of responses to mass violence: from 1991 to 1995 following the break-up of Yugoslavia, and during 1994 in Rwanda. While the Bosnian crisis, as many called it at the time, extended over years, the genocide in Rwanda took place over the course of a hundred days. In both cases, however, outside responses consisting of emergency relief Continue reading → Continue reading →