International Development ISSN 1470-2320 Prizewinning Dissertation 2017 No.17-AR Humanitarian Reform and the Localisation Agenda: Insights from Social Movement and Organisational Theory Alice Robinson Published: March 2018 Department of International Development London School of Economics and Political Science Houghton Street Tel: +44 (020) 7955 7425/6252 London Fax: +44 (020) 7955-6844 WC2A 2AE UK Email:
[email protected] Website: http://www.lse.ac.uk/internationalDevelopment/home.aspx DV410 Page 1 of 57 60134 Candidate Number: 60134 MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies 2017 Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree Humanitarian Reform and the Localisation Agenda: Insights from Social Movement and Organisational Theory Word Count: 10,094 DV410 Page 2 of 57 60134 Abstract This thesis seeks to explain the emergence of the localisation agenda as a focus of humanitarian reform efforts. It draws on social movement and organisational theory, and on interview data, to examine how and why the localisation agenda emerged when it did. Overall, the study suggests that the intersection of SMT and OT represents a productive lens to study change in the humanitarian system, giving substantial purchase on the question of how the localisation agenda emerged, and how it shifted through its interaction with established institutional structures. Contents Abstract ..........................................................................................................................................................