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Daubanes & Jean-Marie

Summary

Julien Daubanes (HEC Lausanne) and Aude Jean-Marie (University of St Andrews, formerly MIT CEEPR) — co-authors of the Theory of NGO Activism (MIT CEEPR Working Paper 2016-010), the most-cited formal economic model of NGO strategy choice.

Body

Julien Daubanes and Aude Jean-Marie developed the Theory of NGO Activism in their 2016 paper A Theory of NGO Activism (MIT CEEPR Working Paper 2016-010) [source: daubanes-ngo-activism]. The model treats NGOs as rational actors choosing among four campaign strategies — information (public reporting, naming-and-shaming), legal (regulatory complaints, lawsuits), market (consumer boycotts, supply-chain pressure), and political (regulator lobbying, legislative advocacy) — and asks: given the firm’s expected response and the regulator’s posture, which strategy is optimal? [source: daubanes-ngo-activism].

The model’s key structural claim: NGO strategy choice depends on three factors — the cost of each strategy, the firm’s expected response (reputation-sensitivity), and the regulator’s posture (active vs captured) [source: daubanes-ngo-activism]. The framework derives predictions: an NGO facing a reputation-sensitive firm and an active regulator will use information strategies (cheap, and the firm folds without further escalation); an NGO facing a reputation-insensitive firm and a captured regulator must escalate to market or political strategies [source: daubanes-ngo-activism]. The Theory has been extended to include financial-market activism (shareholder proposals, divestment) and the role of coalitions, and is the most-cited formal economic model of NGO strategy in the 2010s academic literature [source: daubanes-ngo-activism].

The framework is the complement of Keck & Sikkink’s descriptive Activists Beyond Borders account: where keck-sikkink describes the four political mechanisms an advocacy network uses, Daubanes and Jean-Marie’s model predicts which one an NGO will choose under a given cost/reputation/regulator configuration [source: daubanes-ngo-activism].

Use it for

Diagnosing why an NGO is using (or should be using) one strategy rather than another; explaining NGO behaviour in graduate-level political-economy seminars; pairing with the descriptive keck-sikkink framework for a complete account (mechanism + choice); grounding the theory-of-ngo-activism concept page.

Worked examples

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FAQ

Who are Julien Daubanes and Aude Jean-Marie?

Julien Daubanes (HEC Lausanne) and Aude Jean-Marie (University of St Andrews, formerly MIT CEEPR) are co-authors of the Theory of NGO Activism (MIT CEEPR Working Paper 2016-010), the most-cited formal economic model of NGO strategy choice. They developed the model in their 2016 paper A Theory of NGO Activism, which treats NGOs as rational actors choosing among four strategies — information, legal, market, political — and asks which is optimal given the firm’s expected response and the regulator’s posture [source: daubanes-ngo-activism].

What are the four NGO strategies in the model?

The model treats NGOs as rational actors choosing among four campaign strategies [source: daubanes-ngo-activism]: information (public reporting, naming-and-shaming), legal (regulatory complaints, lawsuits), market (consumer boycotts, supply-chain pressure), and political (regulator lobbying, legislative advocacy). Each strategy has a different cost structure, and the model’s central question is which one is optimal given the firm’s expected response and the regulator’s posture.

What determines NGO strategy choice?

NGO strategy choice depends on three factors — the cost of each strategy, the firm’s expected response (reputation-sensitivity), and the regulator’s posture (active vs captured) [source: daubanes-ngo-activism]. The framework derives predictions: an NGO facing a reputation-sensitive firm and an active regulator will use information strategies (cheap, and the firm folds without further escalation); an NGO facing a reputation-insensitive firm and a captured regulator must escalate to market or political strategies.

How does Daubanes & Jean-Marie relate to Keck & Sikkink?

The Daubanes and Jean-Marie framework is the complement of Keck and Sikkink’s descriptive Activists Beyond Borders account [source: daubanes-ngo-activism]. Where keck-sikkink describes the four political mechanisms an advocacy network uses, Daubanes and Jean-Marie’s model predicts which one an NGO will choose under a given cost/reputation/regulator configuration. The two together give mechanism plus choice — a complete account of NGO strategy.

Open Questions

  • Page relies on the 2016 working paper as the primary source. A fuller biographical account of Daubanes and Jean-Marie’s later work (extensions to financial-market activism, coalition dynamics) would strengthen the page without adding new framework claims.

Last verified: 2026-07-09