Doing Bad by Doing Good in Goma

Christopher J. Coyne’s Doing Bad by Doing Good: Why Humanitarian Action Fails provides an important look at the systematic problems interveners face during humanitarian actions. The bureaucratic incentive structure of humanitarian organizations and the unintended consequences that arise from their actions often lead to more harm than good. Coyne’s analysis makes a compelling case for caution in intervention. This paper applies Coyne’s framework from Doing Bad by Doing Good to the humanitarian intervention following the Rwandan Genocide and cholera epidemic among the refugees in the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Find article at Studies in Emergent Order.