In this chapter, the authors endeavor to build a sociology of knowledge of studies conducted on humanitarianism and war-induced displacement in the Middle East region, considering the cases of Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Turkey in particular. A comparative analysis suggests that similarities and differences across the literature are not always motivated by specific forms of state governmentality. In this framework, postcolonial history seems to provide partial explanations. As a result, the displacement and humanitarianism literature need to transcend the state paradigm and focus on a larger variety of social and political factors. While most scholars have examined the work of the United Nations and of international institutions in the region, the authors highlight the need to learn from multilingual literature, especially that produced in the Global South, and from a deeper investigation of the principles and modalities of crisis management developed by actors from the Global South.
