Aldo Benini
Biographic Data
| ID | 961661 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Aldo Benini |
| GIVEN NAMES | Aldo |
| FAMILY NAME | Benini |
| SIGNATURE | BENINI A |
| AFFILIATIONS | California Polytechnic State University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Survivor needs or logistical convenience? Factors shaping decisions to deliver relief to earthquake-affected communities, Pakistan 2005-06
In Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan, Waters (2001) argues that bureaucratic rationality distracts humanitarian agencies from the needs of the people they are supposed to assist, in favour of other values that their institutional frameworks dictate. We test his claim by investigating the response to the Pakistan 2005 earthquake. One of us (Dittemore) worked with the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre in the theatre, managing a relief cargo sh…
Rapid humanitarian assessments and rationality: A value-of-information study from Iraq, 2003-04
Rapid assessments are one of the standard informational tools in humanitarian response and are supposed to contribute to rational decision-making.1 The extent to which the assessment organisation itself behaves rationally, however, is an open question. This can be evaluated against multiple criteria, such as the cost and value of the information it collects and its ability to adapt flexibly design or samples when the survey environment changes un…
Challenges of Humanitarian Information Management in Iraq
Humanitarian information management in Iraq after April 2003 has been heavily influenced by the interplay of three factors. These are: Continued efforts at standardization and institutional support that had been pioneered in preceding emergencies, notably in Kosovo and Afghanistan; preparations in response to an announced war; and, later, a deteriorating security situation. The politics and dynamics of humanitarian information management are inve…
Civilian Victims in an Asymmetrical Conflict: Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan
Like other wars, recent Western military interventions have entailed loss of civilians in the affected countries. As a result of the 'Revolution in Military Affairs', Martin Shaw makes two claims likely to recur in debates on such wars. The first is that those losses were much smaller than the loss of life as a result of previous misrule and oppression. The second is that during these interventions civilians suffered only accidental 'small massac…
Integration of Different Data Bodies for Humanitarian Decision Support: An Example from Mine Action
Geographic information systems (GIS) are increasingly used for integrating data from different sources and substantive areas, including in humanitarian action. The challenges of integration are particularly well illustrated by humanitarian mine action. The informational requirements of mine action are expensive, with socio-economic impact surveys costing over US$1.5 million per country, and are feeding a continuous debate on the merits of conside…
Persistent Collective Violence and Early Warning Systems: The Case of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
One of the little known specifics of the democratic transition in South Africa during 1990-1994 is its system of early warning about political violence. The strong role that grassroots organizations played in monitoring affected communities and suspected perpetrators set it apart from systems that are driven primarily by academics, although academics were important for the analysis of the violence reports collected by the popular movement and for…
Uncertainty and Information Flows in Humanitarian Agencies
Humanitarian agencies struggle with high uncertainty. The focus here is on uncertainty that grows out of the internal complexity of the agencies themselves, rather than simply emanating from their war-ridden environments. This is illustrated with a study of uncertainty management and information processing in two UN agencies working for the victims of the conflict in southern Sudan. Data from 1995 relief distributions are used to simulate aspects…
Armed Conflict, Access to Markets and Food Crisis Warning: A Note from Mali
Computer Simulation as a Means of Dialogue between Local Committees and Relief Agencies: A Case from Southern Sudan
Computer simulations, using modest equipment - a portable computer with a familiar spreadsheet programme - can facilitate dialogue between local committees and relief agencies in the management of disasters. An example is given from the southern Sudan in which the outcomes of different relief strategies, some urged by the donors, were simulated. This helped the local committee to defend difficult choices and the donors to realise that the decisio…
Civilian Victims in an Asymmetrical Conflict: Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan
Like other wars, recent Western military interventions have entailed loss of civilians in the affected countries. As a result of the 'Revolution in Military Affairs', Martin Shaw makes two claims likely to recur in debates on such wars. The first is that those losses were much smaller than the loss of life as a result of previous misrule and oppression. The second is that during these interventions civilians suffered only accidental 'small massac…
Survivor needs or logistical convenience? Factors shaping decisions to deliver relief to earthquake-affected communities, Pakistan 2005-06
In Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan, Waters (2001) argues that bureaucratic rationality distracts humanitarian agencies from the needs of the people they are supposed to assist, in favour of other values that their institutional frameworks dictate. We test his claim by investigating the response to the Pakistan 2005 earthquake. One of us (Dittemore) worked with the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre in the theatre, managing a relief cargo sh…
Uncertainty and Information Flows in Humanitarian Agencies
Humanitarian agencies struggle with high uncertainty. The focus here is on uncertainty that grows out of the internal complexity of the agencies themselves, rather than simply emanating from their war-ridden environments. This is illustrated with a study of uncertainty management and information processing in two UN agencies working for the victims of the conflict in southern Sudan. Data from 1995 relief distributions are used to simulate aspects…
Integration of Different Data Bodies for Humanitarian Decision Support: An Example from Mine Action
Geographic information systems (GIS) are increasingly used for integrating data from different sources and substantive areas, including in humanitarian action. The challenges of integration are particularly well illustrated by humanitarian mine action. The informational requirements of mine action are expensive, with socio-economic impact surveys costing over US$1.5 million per country, and are feeding a continuous debate on the merits of conside…
Challenges of Humanitarian Information Management in Iraq
Humanitarian information management in Iraq after April 2003 has been heavily influenced by the interplay of three factors. These are: Continued efforts at standardization and institutional support that had been pioneered in preceding emergencies, notably in Kosovo and Afghanistan; preparations in response to an announced war; and, later, a deteriorating security situation. The politics and dynamics of humanitarian information management are inve…
Persistent Collective Violence and Early Warning Systems: The Case of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
One of the little known specifics of the democratic transition in South Africa during 1990-1994 is its system of early warning about political violence. The strong role that grassroots organizations played in monitoring affected communities and suspected perpetrators set it apart from systems that are driven primarily by academics, although academics were important for the analysis of the violence reports collected by the popular movement and for…
Armed Conflict, Access to Markets and Food Crisis Warning: A Note from Mali
Computer Simulation as a Means of Dialogue between Local Committees and Relief Agencies: A Case from Southern Sudan
Computer simulations, using modest equipment - a portable computer with a familiar spreadsheet programme - can facilitate dialogue between local committees and relief agencies in the management of disasters. An example is given from the southern Sudan in which the outcomes of different relief strategies, some urged by the donors, were simulated. This helped the local committee to defend difficult choices and the donors to realise that the decisio…
Armed Conflict, Access to Markets and Food Crisis Warning: A Note from Mali
Uncertainty and Information Flows in Humanitarian Agencies
Humanitarian agencies struggle with high uncertainty. The focus here is on uncertainty that grows out of the internal complexity of the agencies themselves, rather than simply emanating from their war-ridden environments. This is illustrated with a study of uncertainty management and information processing in two UN agencies working for the victims of the conflict in southern Sudan. Data from 1995 relief distributions are used to simulate aspects…
Persistent Collective Violence and Early Warning Systems: The Case of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
One of the little known specifics of the democratic transition in South Africa during 1990-1994 is its system of early warning about political violence. The strong role that grassroots organizations played in monitoring affected communities and suspected perpetrators set it apart from systems that are driven primarily by academics, although academics were important for the analysis of the violence reports collected by the popular movement and for…
Integration of Different Data Bodies for Humanitarian Decision Support: An Example from Mine Action
Geographic information systems (GIS) are increasingly used for integrating data from different sources and substantive areas, including in humanitarian action. The challenges of integration are particularly well illustrated by humanitarian mine action. The informational requirements of mine action are expensive, with socio-economic impact surveys costing over US$1.5 million per country, and are feeding a continuous debate on the merits of conside…
Civilian Victims in an Asymmetrical Conflict: Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan
Like other wars, recent Western military interventions have entailed loss of civilians in the affected countries. As a result of the 'Revolution in Military Affairs', Martin Shaw makes two claims likely to recur in debates on such wars. The first is that those losses were much smaller than the loss of life as a result of previous misrule and oppression. The second is that during these interventions civilians suffered only accidental 'small massac…
Challenges of Humanitarian Information Management in Iraq
Humanitarian information management in Iraq after April 2003 has been heavily influenced by the interplay of three factors. These are: Continued efforts at standardization and institutional support that had been pioneered in preceding emergencies, notably in Kosovo and Afghanistan; preparations in response to an announced war; and, later, a deteriorating security situation. The politics and dynamics of humanitarian information management are inve…
Rapid humanitarian assessments and rationality: A value-of-information study from Iraq, 2003-04
Rapid assessments are one of the standard informational tools in humanitarian response and are supposed to contribute to rational decision-making.1 The extent to which the assessment organisation itself behaves rationally, however, is an open question. This can be evaluated against multiple criteria, such as the cost and value of the information it collects and its ability to adapt flexibly design or samples when the survey environment changes un…
Survivor needs or logistical convenience? Factors shaping decisions to deliver relief to earthquake-affected communities, Pakistan 2005-06
In Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan, Waters (2001) argues that bureaucratic rationality distracts humanitarian agencies from the needs of the people they are supposed to assist, in favour of other values that their institutional frameworks dictate. We test his claim by investigating the response to the Pakistan 2005 earthquake. One of us (Dittemore) worked with the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre in the theatre, managing a relief cargo sh…
Political science (9 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Engineering (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Economics (5 works) · Operations research (5 works) · Business (3 works) · Disaster Management and Resilience (3 works) · Health and Conflict Studies (3 works)