Doctoral Dissertation Research: Explaining Variation in Advocacy Efforts by International Nongovernmental Organizations

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

International Nongovernmental Organizations' (INGO) focus advocacy efforts on some issues and not others, and the extent of harm does not explain this variation. INGOs mobilize around some issues of moral concern, but neglect others with similar objective characteristics. The project will test potential explanations of variation in attention to issues via a mixed methods research design that explores INGO advocacy effort in the two issue areas of global health and armed conflicts, both matters of great public import. INGOS' choice of problems and strategies is important to understand because INGOs have long been recognized as potent drivers of international normative change. Through their practices they have made critical contributions to compliance with international legal standards, particularly significant given the difficulty in enforcing international norms. This project develops a theory of INGO advocacy choices that emphasizes the constraints and strategic considerations affecting their behavior. The project hypothesizes that institutional survival motives incentivize INGOs to respond to the preferences of their donor constituency, as well as to the expected likelihood of their demands? realization. In addition, the theory underlines the importance of micro level dynamics. INGOs' agendas evolve in a path dependent way, where previous choices constrain and enable current agenda. Next, this project hypothesizes that issues gain organizational support because organizations are more likely to do what other organizations do. To analyze the activism of INGOs, reasons for their issue choice, and path dependence, this project constructs the first quantitative database allowing for the statistical analysis of issue-specific INGO activism. The database will be useful for those who wish to understand how INGOs choose issues, an important question for many policymakers.