Paper details
| Paper authors | Plesner Volkdal, Christina |
| In panel on | Beyond Integration: Revisiting the Triple Humanitarian–Development–Peace (HDP) Nexus in Practice |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
This abstract presents key findings and contributions from examining how the HDPN is operationalized across international and national humanitarian organizations. Drawing on institutional ethnography, systems thinking, and multi-level case analysis, the research reconceptualizes the HDPN not as a linear transition model, but as a dynamic process of institutional negotiation, shaped by power, positionality, and context.
Through empirical investigations, the study demonstrates that coherence is not achieved through policy alignment alone but emerges through organizational routines, mandate interpretation, and adaptive responses to shifting crisis environments. The study identifies three core contributions: First, it advances a theoretical shift by conceptualizing the HDPN as a complex adaptive system where coherence is contingent and iterative rather than predefined. Second, it introduces a transferable analytical model for tracing HDPN dynamics across micro (field), meso (organizational), and macro (system-wide) levels. Third, it offers empirically grounded insights into how local agency, sectoral complementarity, and political economy shape the conditions under which HDPN strategies are adopted, resisted, or transformed.
These contributions address enduring critiques of the HDPN as vague and technocratic, providing a grounded account of how the HDPN unfolds in practice. The research underscores the need to reimagine the HDPN as a flexible and relational framework that accommodates uncertainty and centers localized, context-specific approaches to crisis governance.
