The Ukrainian Red Cross Society as a neo-institutional actor of humanitarian diplomacy amid the transformation of public policy during the russian-ukrainian armed conflict

Abstract

The article examines the Ukrainian Red Cross Society as a neo-institutional actor of humanitarian diplomacy amid the transformation of public policy. Within the framework of the study, humanitarian diplomacy is conceptualised as a mechanism of institutional influence through which humanitarian actors are able to affect political decision-making, governance practices, and coordination formats among the state, civil society, international organisations, and local communities. From the perspective of the neo-institutional approach, the article emphasises that the role of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society is determined not only by its formal status as a National Society and its affiliation with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, but also by a set of informal practices of interaction, partnership networks, humanitarian legitimacy, organisational capacity, and institutional trust. It is established that the Ukrainian Red Cross Society functions as an institutional intermediary between the humanitarian needs of the population, state decisions, international standards, donor structures, and local response mechanisms. During the international armed conflict, the Society carries out comprehensive and large-scale humanitarian activities that are combined with, mediated by, and implemented through the instruments of humanitarian diplomacy. The article substantiates that the activities of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society are not limited to a service-oriented or charitable function, since they are directly connected with the formation of public policy practices in the fields of humanitarian response, social protection, healthcare, mine safety, rehabilitation, recovery, and community support. Humanitarian advocacy and public mobilisation are identified as areas that confirm the institutionally structured nature of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society’s humanitarian diplomacy. It is argued that the humanitarian diplomacy of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society is manifested not only in external representation or international communication, but primarily in the practices of building partnerships, mobilising resources, promoting humanitarian standards, coordinating among different actors, developing local capacities, and influencing state humanitarian policy. In this context, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society emerges as a neo-institutional actor whose strength, influence, and effectiveness are rooted not in formal governmental authority, but in humanitarian legitimacy, trust, expertise, network-based interaction, international linkages, and the capacity to coordinate heterogeneous resources. This approach makes it possible to move the analysis of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society beyond the description of volunteer or charitable activities and to consider it as a full-fledged subject of humanitarian diplomacy operating at the intersection of international relations, public policy, humanitarian governance, and civil society.