Chapter 1 Humanitarian Organizations Under Pressure Humanitarian (aid) operations (HO) have expanded constantly over past decades. Nowadays, they are playing a significant and increasing role in managing the human- itarian problems of our society. 1 Even before the end of the Second World War, HOs have become more important than ever. Worldwide more than 125 million people are reliant on humanitarian aid—double the number of 10 years ago. At the beginning of 2016, over 65 million of these people had fled across borders as refugees. 2 Not only the number of humanitarian crises has grown, but also their intensity, their duration and their regional dispersion has, often across several countries. At the same time there is an active debate about humanitarian policies and stan- dards, and about the performance of HOs. There has been growing criticism that many HOs are too expensive, too inefficient and not sufficiently flexible. Some crit- ics even see their principles in danger and ask for deep-seated reforms. Peter Maurer, president of the ICRC, even talks of a “crisis of humanitarian aid”. 3 This debate is taking place in a much more dynamic and complex world. The types of human crises have changed, the beneficiaries now have different demands, and new and powerful political actors are entering the debate with different inter- ests. And some of the established actors are shifting their attitudes to humanitarian aid. Compared to former times “… national governments affected by situations of violence are taking a more active role in designing humanitarian response strategies and coordinating relief efforts, questioning at times the relevance of independent humanitarian action.” 4 This has contributed to an ongoing decentralization and the emergence of more regional humanitarian response models. In the end, we can say that the reality for HOs has changed and it will continue to change significantly. HOs are confronted with increasingly divergent views as to how humanitarian operations should be conducted and how to mobilize governments 1 Walker and Maxwell (2009). 2 Pabst (2016). 3 Urech (2017, S. 12). 4 ICRC (2014, p. 4). © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 G. Müller-Stewens et al., The Professionalization of Humanitarian Organizations, SpringerBriefs in Organisational Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03248-7_1 1