“Force Multipliers”: Conditional Effectiveness of Military and INGO Human Security Interventions

Abstract

Following humanitarian disasters, does the presence of both military and civilian international nongovernmental organization (INGO) interveners help or harm human security outcomes? This article argues that INGOs and military interventions can individually aid in less complex human security outcomes, while for more complex human security outcomes, joint INGO and military interventions can have a “force multiplier” effect. The implications of this theoretical argument are tested using a cross-national time-series dataset of postcivil-conflict and postnatural-disaster states, combined with data on military and INGO humanitarian interventions. The results largely support the main premise of this article's theory: Both military and INGO humanitarian interveners can help bring about human security outcomes, but the necessity of both interveners engaging simultaneously varies by the complexity of the human security objective.