Project description
Social distance in humanitarian aid policies
Political tensions, local and international conflicts as well as natural disasters characterise our era and demand humanitarian aid and other forms of intervention that still belong to foreign policy. It is estimated that people express different levels of concern and availability towards damaged communities. The EU-funded SoDiIR project proposes a study of the provision of support under the perspective of social distance that indicates the level of our relation or identification with others. The project will show how social distance establishes socio-emotional obstacles and influences people’s engagement in international catastrophes. It will also analyse how these personal reactions are translated into foreign policy decisions on the national level, focusing on Colombia, the Netherlands, the United States and Venezuela.
Objective
When are people willing to save strangers? With ongoing political tensions and conflicts in a number of countries, often aggravated by catastrophes such as droughts and famine, the provision of aid and other forms of support (including military support) remain contentious and contemporary foreign policy issues.
I study the provision of support and aid through a new lens; that of ‘social distance’. Social distance connotates the extent to which we relate to, or identify with, certain others. Whilst common sense has it that our moral obligation to provide assistance extents equally to all people, my expectation is that social distance creates socio-emotional hurdles and impacts people’s engagement with the hardship of others. To put it bluntly, people do not care equally for all human suffering and this influences their, and therewith countries’, political priorities. This project has two central objectives:
a) To show how socio-emotional distance impacts people’s perceptions of, and reactions towards, international crises and catastrophes;
b) to theorise and analyse how such micro-level and personal responses are translated into foreign policy decisions on the national level.
To achieve these goals, I first develop a distance/emotions dictionary to study how people express social proximity/distance and associated emotions. Second, I conduct a comparative analyses, studying if and how social distance shapes the narratives about, and people’s engagement with, the current crisis and hardship in Venezuela in Colombia, the USA and the Netherlands. Third, I study how these engagements shape foreign policy decisions in these countries.
This project promises to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the socio-emotional mircofoundations of international relations. It offers a perspective that complements, but at the same time significantly advances, earlier approaches, and it forms a critical stepping stone for me to a senior academic appointment.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2311 EZ Leiden
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.