Coordinating the Humanitarian Response to Refugee Situations The Role of Power and Trust in Humanitarian Networks

Most traditional literature focusing on coordination of humanitarian organisations argues for a hierarchy were one focal point is entitled the authority to coordinate by power of command. This argument has been criticised by theorists claiming that this is a utopia that will never become reality on a humanitarian arena consisting of autonomous actors. Instead, trust between the actors in a humanitarian network is understood as the foundation of successful coordination. Based on a fieldwork from Burundi, this paper argues that the financial ties between the organisations creates a possibility to coordinate by power of command, but that the application of this financially founded power decreases the levels of trust between the actors. Decreased levels of trust lead to decreased motivation for coordination. The paper therefore concludes that financially founded power of command is counterproductive to successful coordination. Effective coordination is founded on the ability to influence autonomous actors, not on the enforcement of decisions through power of command.