Providing aid to populations in countries where there is violent conflict presents a number of challenges to donors and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). This Special Issue sets out to explore through a series of empirical accounts what these challenges are and how they are related to domestic and international politics. It investigates the processes of negotiation, settlement and implementation of agreements by examining donor and NGO aid in countries in which there is or has recently been open fighting.

The articles investigate what part aid has played in the agreements made, and what the impact of these agreements has been both on the operating environment for aid organisations and on the political dynamics in country. This involves assessing the bargaining between different interests, the management of various forms of violence, and the alterations that are made in the relationships between leaders, the population and the aid organisations.