War is at a tipping point: we''re passing from the age of
industrial warfare to a new era of computerised warfare, and a renewed risk of
great-power conflict. Humanitarian response is also evolving fast--''big aid''
demands more and more money, while aid workers try to digitalise, preparing to
meet ever-broader needs in the long, big wars and climate crisis of the future.
This book draws on the founding moment of the modern Red
Cross movement--the 1859 Battle of Solferino, a moment of great change in the
nature of conflict--to track the big shifts already underway, and still to
come, in the wars and war aid of our century. Hugo Slim first surveys the
current landscape: the tech, politics, law and strategy of warfare, and the
long-term transformations ahead as conflict goes digital. He then explains how
civilians both suffer and survive in today''s wars, and how their world is
changing. Finally, he critiques today''s humanitarian system, citing the
challenges of the 2020s.
Inspired by Henri Dunant''s seminal humanitarian text,
Solferino 21 alerts policymakers to the coming shakeup of the military and aid
professions, illuminating key priorities for the new century. Humanitarians, he
warns, must adapt or fail.