Assessing the Impact of the Political Environment on INGO Vulnerability to Terrorist Attack

Abstract

International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) operate in dangerous environments where their humanitarian missions are often in jeopardy. This study analyzes the relationship between four political variables-Regime Type, Political Corruption, Political Stability, and Level of Terrorism-and terrorist attacks against INGOs. What political conditions exist when INGOs are targeted by terror organizations? Do these conditions differ from international terror attacks in which INGOs are not targeted? The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is used to identify INGOs attacked by terrorists and to describe the nature of the terrorist threat posed to the organizations. Additionally, data from the Polity IV Project, the State Fragility Index (SFI), and Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGIs) are used to create proxy variables for Regime Type, Political Stability, and Political Corruption. Binary logistic regression of these four variables reveals Political Stability and Level of Terrorism as the best predictors of INGO attacks. These two variables predicted 82.0 percent of the INGO attacks but were much less successful (58.1 percent) in predicting terrorist attacks in which INGOs were not targeted. INGOs can more effectively align resources with their security needs as they gain a better understanding of how the political environment impacts or does not impact their vulnerability to terrorist attack.Evaluando el impacto del clima político en la vulnerabilidad de las ONGs internacionales a ataques terroristas Las Organizaciones no Gubernamentales Internacionales (INGOs) operan en ambientes peligrosos donde sus misiones humanitarias est an a menudo en peligro. Este estudio analiza la relaci on entre cuatro variables políticas -tipo de r egimen, corrupci on política, estabilidad política y nivel de terrorismo -y ataques terroristas contra las INGOs. ¿Qu e condiciones políticas existen cuando las INGOs son objetivo de organizaciones terroristas? ¿Difieren estas condiciones de los ataques terroristas internacionales en los que las INGOs no son los objetivos? La Base de Datos de Terrorismo (GTD) se utiliza para identificar INGOs que son atacadas por terroristas y para describir la naturaleza de la amenaza terrorista para las organizaciones. Adicionalmente, los datos del Polity IV Project, el Indice de Fragilidad del Estado y los Indicadores de Gobernanza Globales se usan para crear variables por procuraci on para el tipo de r egimen, estabilidad política y corrupci on política. La regresi on logística binaria de estas cuatro variables revela que la Estabilidad Política y el Nivel de Terrorismo son los mejores predictores de ataques a las INGOs. Estas dos variables predijeron 82.0% de los ataques a INGOs pero fueron mucho menos exitosas (58.1%) al predecir ataques terroristas donde las INGOs no fueron el objetivo. Las INGOs pueden alinear recursos m as efectivamente con sus necesidades de seguridad mientras llegan a una mejor comprensi on de c omo el ambiente político tiene o no impacto sobre la vulnerabilidad a ataques terrorista...

Benchmarks for INGOs’ effective responses during COVID-19 pandemic

“…These complexities might be political (Wildeman, 2017), ethical (Jackman, 2018), legislative and logistical (Tirmizi and Vogelsang, 2016). They might relate to ethnic conflicts (Bayiley and Teklu, 2016), incidents of terrorism (Lambert, 2018), language barriers (Brehm, 2019), legitimacy of provided services (Noh, 2019), lack of local capacities (McEvoy et al , 2016) or perceptions of intentions and relevance of help (Ubalijoro, 2018).…”

“…IDA projects are the primary vehicles by which INGOs realize their goals, operationalize their strategic plans and bring a lasting impact on the lives of people and fragile communities (Walton, 2018). Under these IDA projects, the INGOs aim to mitigate suffering (Lambert, 2018) and respond to the different needs and common vulnerabilities (Lassa, 2018), as well as to achieve the agreed-upon global SDGs.…”