Post-conflict aid is the monetary, material or technical assistance granted by other states, non-governmental organizations and private donors to regions that have recently been hit by either an international war, a civil war, or an armed conflict. The donation can take the form of food, financial investment, reconstruction materials and many others and aims to the re-attainment of sustainable socio-economic development as well as to the re-organization of the governmental and judicial structures and institutions in the war-torn region. Distinction from development and humanitarian aid Post-conflict aid differs from the conventional development aid in many aspects. It is to some extent comparable to the aid granted in view of certain environmental catastrophes with huge impacts on the humanitarian situation. Just like countries facing a natural disaster, post-conflict countries are mainly confronted with a humanitarian emergency due to the destruction of infrastructures, institutions, public services and labor force as well as the death and injury of many people in the area. Hence, aid committed to the respective country can in both scenarios reach an extraordinarily high level but is likely to decline very rapidly as soon as the emergency has come under control. In both scenarios, technical help and human resources complement the material component of aid. In contrast, development aid is far more sustainable, not triggered by a single event, tied to certain conditions and mostly granted in the framework of an official international and national development program. Development aid is based on the principle help for self-help, whereas post-conflict and humanitarian aid strives to provide the means to manage a current crisis without a long-term plan. Still, post-conflict aid is more comprehensive that pure humanitarian aid directed to still the basic needs of medical supply, shelter and food in the aftermath of a humanitarian catastrophe. In its most encompassing form, post-conflict aid occurs during the reconstruction phase and the reinstallation of a functioning political system and the rule of laws. History of the development of post-conflict aid Prior to the development of post-conflict aid, there was simply humanitarian aid and development aid. Yet, following conflict there was not often aid provided to the state that suffered devastating losses during the conflict. Instead, the state was now under the rule of the state who won the war. An example of this would be colonialism where the state that lost is now a colony of the state that won the conflict.