The Impact of Great Powers on the Structure and Competences of the International Humanitarian Organisation the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)

UNRRA – United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, whose achievements are not sufficiently reflected in the historiography of the post-war period, is an interesting object of research for many reasons. In this article, we have attempted to show the mechanisms which great powers resorted to in order to secure a dominant position not just in terms of prerogatives but also administrative structure. The main task of the UNRRA was to offer aid needed for the economic and moral reconstruction of the countries occupied by the Axis. This was a massive challenge in logistical and theoretical terms. An efficiently functioning aid organisation could serve not just peace building on humanitarian foundations but also be a test for the paradigm of the United Nations the founding of which it preceded. And it was for just those reasons that many countries expressed apprehension as to the US dominance visible in the negotiations while realising that humanitarian assistance without taking account of the economic potential of that power would have been doomed to fail.

UNRRA – United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, whose achievements are not sufficiently reflected in the historiography of the post-war period, is an interesting object of research for many reasons. In this article, we have attempted to show the mechanisms which great powers resorted to in order to secure a dominant position not just in terms of prerogatives but also administrative structure. The main task of the UNRRA was to offer aid needed for the economic and moral reconstruction of the countries occupied by the Axis. This was a massive challenge in logistical and theoretical terms. An efficiently functioning aid organisation could serve not just peace building on humanitarian foundations but also be a test for the paradigm of the United Nations the founding of which it preceded. And it was for just those reasons that many countries expressed apprehension as to the US dominance visible in the negotiations while realising that humanitarian assistance without taking account of the economic potential of that power would have been doomed to fail.