The Reconstruction of a New System of Needs after a Post-War Emergency

The crisis caused by natural disasters or war, rather than being considered sui generis, should be seen as a normal phase in life that sheds light on characteristics of social systems which otherwise would remain unrecognised. Calamitous events have consequences on the vital level and the me-chanisms regulating social-psychological aspects, as well as social change. Starting from Sorokin's sociological idea on mobility as a result of a catastrophic event, the case of a non-profit Italian asso-ciation is presented. The Civil Protection Association (A.P.C. Group Papa Charlie) assisted refugees from war-torn Kosovo in the Albanian refugee camps in 1999 and later, in 2007, led interventions in Kosovo which aimed at rebuilding the social fabric and promoting the integration of ethnic groups. In this chapter the problem of overcoming the emergency is subsequently addressed, deli-neating the emerging dynamics that take place when there is an attempt to give a new order to cope with the new system of needs, especially when this is the result of interventions which are external to the social system, as in the case presented.