Evaluating Transnational NGOs: Legitimacy, Accountability, Representation

278 Pages·2010·1 MB·English

by  Jens Steffek, Kristina Hahn (eds.)

Evaluating Transnational
NGOs
Legitimacy, Accountability, Representation
Edited by
Jens Steffek and Kristina Hahn
Evaluating Transnational NGOs
Also by Jens Steffek
EMBEDDED LIBERALISM AND ITS CRITICS: Justifying Global Governance in the
American Century
LEGITIMACY IN AN AGE OF GLOBAL POLITICS (edited with Achim Hurrelmann
and Steffen Schneider)
CIVIL SOCIETY PARTICIPATION IN EUROPEAN AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE:
A Cure for the Democratic Deficit? (edited with Claudia Kissling and Patrizia Nanz)
Evaluating Transnational
NGOs
Legitimacy, Accountability, Representation
Edited by
Jens Steffek
Professor, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany
and
Kristina Hahn
Senior Research Fellow, Research Centre ‘Transformations of the State’,
University of Bremen, Germany
Introduction, selection and editorial matter © Jens Steffek
and Kristina Hahn 2010
Individual chapters © contributors 2010
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-22871-9
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First published 2010 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-31022-7 ISBN 978-0-230-27798-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230277984
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Evaluating transnational NGOs : legitimacy, accountability,
representation / edited by Jens Steffek, Kristina Hahn.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Non-governmental organizations. 2. International agencies.
I. Steffek, Jens. II. Hahn, Kristina, 1975–
JZ4841.E93 2010
341.2—dc22
2009048540
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables viii
Acknowledgements ix
Notes on Contributors x
List of Abbreviations xii
1 Introduction: Transnational NGOs and Legitimacy,
Accountability, Representation 1
Jens Steffek and Kristina Hahn
Part I NGO Legitimacy
2 The Debate on NGOs’ Legitimacy: What Can
We Learn from the Classics? 29
Lutz Schrader and Tobias Denskus
3 Legitimating INGO Advocacy: The Case of Internal
Democracies 55
Darren Halpin and Peter McLaverty
4 The Link between Standard-Setting NGOs’ Legitimacy and
Effectiveness: An Exploration of Social Mechanisms 74
Marianne Beisheim and Klaus Dingwerth
5 Assessing the Democratic Legitimacy of Transnational CSOs:
Five Criteria 100
Jens Steffek, Ralf Bendrath, Simon Dalferth, Kristina Hahn,
Martina Piewitt and Meike Rodekamp
Part II NGO Accountability
6 These Pages Have Been Regulated for You: Issues Arising
from the Governance of Markets by NGOs 129
Jem Bendell, Phyllida Jay and Mark Bendell
7 Accountability 2.0 – In Search for a New Approach to
International Non-Governmental Organisations’
Accountability 157
Marek Havrda and Petr Kutílek
v
vi Contents
Part III Representation through NGOs?
8 Representing the People? NGOs in International
Negotiations 181
Tanja Brühl
9 Regulating NGO Participation in the EU; a De-Facto
Accreditation System Built on ‘Representativeness’? 200
Justin Greenwood
10 NGOs’ Power of Advocacy: The Construction of Identities
in UN Counter-Human Trafficking Policies 220
Kristina Hahn
Part IV Conclusions
11 Evaluating NGOs: A Practitioner’s Perspective 245
Regula Heggli
12 Evaluating NGOs: Prospects for Academic Analysis 257
Jens Steffek and Kristina Hahn
Index 265
List of Figures
4.1 From procedural legitimacy to effectiveness 78
5.1 CSOs as transmission belt between IOs, a global citizenry
and the public sphere 103
5.2 Five elements of CSO legitimacy 117
vii
List of Tables
3.1 Legitimating advocacy 63
3.2 What would be gained/lost by exclusion of
undemocratic INGOs? 69
4.1 Mechanisms that link legitimacy and success of private
governance 79
4.2 GRI reports and adherence level by participation level 87
10.1 Typology – NGOs speaking as advocates for others 223
11.1 Features of representation and solidarity groups as
distinguished by Halpin and McLaverty (Chapter 3) 254
viii
Acknowledgements
The idea of publishing this volume originated at an expert workshop
on the ‘Legitimacy and Accountability of NGOs in International
Governance’ that we organised at the University of Bremen in October
2007. Our initial plan was to just bring together practitioners and
academics from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds for discussion,
and not to publish the papers tabled at that meeting. In our debate
over the intertwined problems of NGO legitimacy, accountability and
representation we realised, however, that a good overview volume on
these issues was missing from the literature, and we embarked on this
book project. In the end, not all participants of the Bremen workshop
were able to contribute to this volume. We therefore wish to express
our gratitude to the participants who are not represented here by their
own contributions but who shared their ideas and experience with us:
Anne Bichsel, Vivienne Collingwood, Wolfgang van den Daele, Marcia
Grimes, Thorsten Hüller, Claudia Kissling, Beate Kohler and Johannes
Moes. We also wish to thank our student assistants Sven Böhling and
Clemens Haug for their invaluable help in preparing the workshop, and
the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS)
for providing the infrastructure for the event. We are also indebted
to an anonymous reviewer for constructive advice on the book pro-
posal. Viktoria Zipper has helped us greatly in preparing the final
manuscript.
The publication of this volume is part of our ongoing research project
on ‘Legitimation and Participation in International Organisations’
at the Collaborative Research Centre ‘Transformations of the State’
at the University of Bremen. This centre is generously funded by the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation)
whose financial support is gratefully acknowledged.
Bremen, August 2009
Jens Steffek and Kristina Hahn
ix