A View from the Top: International Politics, Norms and the Worldwide Growth of NGOs

This article provides a “top-down” explanation for the rapid growth of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the postwar period, focusing on two aspects of political globalization. First, I argue that international political opportunities in the form of funding and political access have expanded enormously in the postwar period and provided a structural environment highly conducive to NGO growth. Secondly, I present a norm-based argument and trace the rise of a pro-NGO norm in the 1980s and 1990s among donor states and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), which has actively promoted the spread of NGOs to non-Western countries. The article ends with a brief discussion of the symbiotic relationship among NGOs, IGOs, and states promoting international cooperation.

[1]  A. V. Rooy.  The frontiers of influence: NGO lobbying at the 1974 World Food Conference, the 1992 Earth Summit and beyond , 1997 .

[2]  Jack L. Walker.  Mobilizing Interest Groups in America: Patrons, Professions, and Social Movements , 1991 .

[3]  J. Chanaa,et al.  The state of the world's refugees: fifty years of humanitarian action. , 2000 .

[4]  Sidney Tarrow,et al.  Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: States and opportunities: The political structuring of social movements , 1996 .

[5]  Kal Raustiala.  States, NGOs, and International Environmental Institutions , 1997 .

[6]  Sanjeev Khagram,et al.  Restructuring World Politics: Transnational Social Movements, Networks, and Norms , 2002 .

[7]  Alastair Iain Johnston,et al.  Treating International Institutions as Social Environments , 2001 .

[8]  Thomas Carothers.  Aiding Democracy Abroad: The Learning Curve , 1999 .

[9]  Hanspeter Kriesi,et al.  Social movements in a globalizing world , 1999 .

[10]  J. Nye,et al.  Transnational Relations and World Politics: An Introduction , 1971, International Organization.

[11]  Z. Brzezinski.  A Geostrategy for Eurasia , 1997 .

[12]  S. Charnovitz.  Two Centuries of Participation: NGOs and International Governance , 1997 .

[13]  D. Hulme,et al.  NGOs, States and Donors: Too Close for Comfort? , 1998 .

[14]  Hanspeter Kriesi,et al.  New social movements in Western Europe. A comparative analysis , 1995 .

[15]  John W. Meyer,et al.  World Society and the Nation‐State , 1997, American Journal of Sociology.

[16]  M. Finnemore,et al.  National Interests in International Society , 1996 .

[17]  T. Skocpol,et al.  “Advocates without Members: The Recent Transformation of American Civic Life” , 1999 .

[18]  L. Salamon,et al.  Social Origins of Civil Society: Explaining the Nonprofit Sector Cross-Nationally , 1998 .

[19]  R. Lipschutz.  Reconstructing World Politics: The Emergence of Global Civil Society , 1992 .

[20]  Antonio. Donini.  The bureaucracy and the free spirits: Stagnation and innovation in the relationship between the UN and NGOs , 1995 .

[21]  Kjell Skjelsbaek.  The Growth of International Nongovernmental Organization in the Twentieth Century , 1971 .

[22]  I. Smillie,et al.  Stakeholders: government-NGO partnerships for international development. , 1999 .

[23]  Autonomy or dependency? Relations between non-governmental international aid organisations and government , 1996 .

[24]  J. D. McCarthy,et al.  Comparative perspectives on social movements : political opportunities, mobilizing structures, and cultural framings , 1996 .

[25]  Ann Marie Clark,et al.  The Sovereign Limits of Global Civil Society: A Comparison of NGO Participation in UN World Conferences on the Environment, Human Rights, and Women , 1998, World Politics.

[26]  M. Cernea.  Nongovernmental organizations and local development , 1988 .

[27]  Brian H. Smith.  More Than Altruism: The Politics of Private Foreign Aid , 1990 .

[28]  John W. Meyer,et al.  The Structuring of a World Environmental Regime, 1870–1990 , 1997, International Organization.

[29]  F. Z. Glick.  : American Philanthropy Abroad: A History , 1964 .

[30]  D. Hulme,et al.  NGOs, States and Donors , 1997 .

[31]  John Boli,et al.  [Constructing World Culture: International Nongovernmental Organizations since 1875] , 1999 .

[32]  F. Fukuyama,et al.  The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics , 1997 .

[33]  M. Ruffin.  Book Review: Funding Virtue: Civil Society Aid and Democracy Promotion, Marina Ottaway and Thomas Carothers (eds.), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC, 2000 , 2002 .

[34]  C. Tilly.  Social Movements and National Politics , 1979 .

[35]  L. Salamon,et al.  SOCIAL ORIGINS OF CIVIL SOCIETY , 2002 .

[36]  Kirsten A. Gronbjerg,et al.  : Partners in Public Service: Government-Nonprofit Relations in the Modern Welfare State , 1997 .

[37]  M. Ottaway,et al.  Funding Virtue: Civil Society Aid and Democracy Promotion , 2000 .

[38]  P. Willetts.  The Pattern of Conferences , 1989 .

[39]  A. Phillips.  Exporting democracy: German political foundations in Central‐East Europe , 1999 .

[40]  Thomas Risse,et al.  The Power of Human Rights: Cambridge Cultural Social Studies , 1999 .

[41]  I. Smillie,et al.  Non-governmental organisations and governments : stakeholders for development. , 1993 .

[42]  D. Hulme,et al.  Too Close For Comfort? The Impact of Official Aid on Nongovernmental Organizations , 1996 .

[43]  Kathryn Sikkink,et al.  The power of human rights : international norms and domestic change , 1999 .

[44]  Jackie Smith.  Social Movements, International Institutions, and Local Empowerment , 2000 .

[45]  M. Robinson.  More than altruism: the politics of private foreign aid , 1992 .

[46]  T. Weiss,et al.  Pluralising global governance: analytical approaches and dimensions , 1995, The United Nations.

[47]  M. Curti,et al.  American philanthrophy abroad : a history , 1964 .

[48]  Kendall W. Stiles.  Civil Society Empowerment and Multilateral Donors: International Institutions and New International Norms , 1998 .

[49]  Kim D. Reimann.  The Spread of Global Civil Society in the 1990s: Domestic Structures, International Socialization and the Emergence of International Development NGOs in Japan , 2001 .