Médecins Sans Frontières, Evolution of an International Movement: Associative History 1971-2011
About this ebook
dimensions. International because it wouldn’t have made sense for MSF France, on its own, to aid threatened populations
around the world and associative because civil law in France, especially the 1901 law governing charitable
bodies, was perfectly suited to the MSF organisation’s guiding precepts, which are democratic and selfless in
nature.
Yet, MSF’s development from a small, purely French organisation to an international associative movement was never
carefully planned or particularly smooth. MSF’s development was the result of various compromises between the
movement’s leaders, with their individual agendas, and the integration of fait accomplis when necessary. The evolving
modifications were debated at length to ensure that concerns raised were legitimate and that there was agreement
for decisions made. The nature and the validity of MSF’s leadership were regularly challenged, as was the
question of how MSF should grow while remaining true to its humanitarian precepts.
This case study elaborates the history of the MSF movement from inception in 1971 through 2011, when MSF legitimised
an international governance system and architecture. The study is divided in two episodes. Episode One reviews
MSF’s first three decades (1971-2000). Episode Two is about the challenges of the early 21st, century, from 2001
to 2011.
