The Behaviour of NGOs Involved in Humanitarian Aid According to Their Cultural of Origin and Political Pressures
NGOs involved in humanitarian aid do not all act the same way in the field. This article shows how this can be explained by the fact that the founders of these organizations have different views of the world and the hoped-for effects of their work. The culture of the country of origin and, in particular, their religion weighed heavily on the initial criteria and thus on the means of action in the field. However, things are changing now and becoming more radical. The omnipresent notion of the war against terror has forced NGOs to choose sides and take into account the enormous political pressures on them. A growing professionalization is also occurring that has tended to standardize procedures in the forming of international NGO networks and the development of transnational humanitarian organizations, particularly in the relations with financial backers. It has accordingly been observed that there has been a slow blurring of many of the original differences, even though there remain enough of these for many NGOs to maintain their own identities.