This diploma thesis approaches the question of political involvement with humanitarian aid: it ex- amines to what extent this issue conflicts with the humanitarian principles. Starting from this point, it discusses whether and to what degree individual organizations differ from each other on this matter. A careful analysis of the history of humanitarian aid and of the self-portrayals of vari- ous aid agencies uncovers a close entanglement with politics. The dependency of humanitarian or-

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... ions on public funding can be seen as a representative for this issue. Another example for the political entanglement of aid agencies can be seen in their role in armed conflicts: Humanitari- an aid organizations are again and again involuntary political actors in conflict areas. In such cases, the humanitarian aid can prevent a conflicting party to lose its legitimacy among the population because aid agencies supplying the civilian population with relief render the conflict "more hu- mane". The conclusion of this thesis is that the humanitarian principles are perceived diversely by different organizations.