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Confrontées d'une part à des sociétés civiles à secourir dans l'urgence et d'autre part à des gouvernements pour lesquels priment la pacification, la reconstruction et le développement, les ONG ont-elles trouvé leur équilibre d'action et de mise en oeuvre des principes qui les légitiment ? Que savons-nous du fonctionnement interne des différentes ONG humanitaires ?

This issue deals with the relations of the normative framework ofhumanitarian law, human rights and state sovereignty. It aims toanalyze questions, raised by practices of humanitarian action,ranging from the political realm to the normative realm. Faced withemergencies in civil societies on the one hand and confronted withgovernmental priorities of pacification, reconstruction anddevelopment on the other, have NGOs found a balance in the conduct oftheir activities and the implementation of the principles thatlegitimize them? What do we exactly know of the internal workings ofdifferent humanitarian NGOs? And what about national institutionsdeciding the humanitarian policies of the state? So many questions,the formulation of which already allows to conceptualize humanitarianaction differently, highlight the inherent contradiction between theneed for standardization and institutionalization on the one hand,and the necessity for flexibility and adaptation upon encounter withthe populations, on the other.