Of bureaucracies and aid organizations The is a followup to my most recent post which focuses on the question “what is the ‘humanitarian aid system?”. Framing the discussion In his 2014 essay The Humanitarian Future Paul Currion points out that, “Of the Fortune 500 firms first listed in 1955, nearly 90 percent no longer exist in 2014, and this type of creative destruction is sorely lacking in the humanitarian sector.”  This ‘lack of creative destruction’ is my point of departure for this second post focusing on the question “can the humanitarian aid system be fixed?”.  Currion is spot on with his observation and below I discuss why this is such an important point from a sociological perspective. There are many typologies of bureaucracies, and here is a simple version in which includes (1) for profit entities like Apple, Halliburton or Barkleys, (2) governments or governing bodies like the United Nations, the Parliament of Italy or FIFA, and (3) not for profit organizations … Continue reading Of bureaucracies and aid organizations