War and Peace, and INGOs, 1914-1945

In the second half of the nineteenth century, there was a boom in the foundation of new international associations – bodies that, in post-1945 parlance, can be described as international non-governmental organisations (INGOs). Since that period the international trend of organised cooperation almost never slowed down. Almost: we can observe a significant drop in the number of such organisations being founded and an increase of those ceasing to exist, per year, in the periods around the two World Wars (1914-1918 and 1939-1945). But are the wars themselves the main cause of these changes, or is the tense political situation preceding a war to blame? And which organisations are particularly vulnerable to a hostile diplomatic climate: those with less resources, those in certain countries or maybe those with activist topics? Thanks to the data from the Union of International Associations (UIA), we can answer such questions by interpreting the results of both statistical and descriptive analyses of INGOs in their historical context. This study provides insights into the influence of inter-state politics on non-governmental international organisations and therefore contributes to our understanding of the effects of war on associational life.