NGOs in International Politics

305 Pages·2006·0.948 MB·English

by  Shamima Ahmed, David M. Potter

NGOs in International Politics

NGOs in
International Politics
Shamima Ahmed & David Potter
NGOs in International Politics
Published in 2006 in the United States of America by Kumarian Press, Inc.,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ahmed, Shamima, 1959–
NGOs in international politics / Shamima Ahmed, David Potter.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978–1–56549–230–1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1–56549–230–7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Non-governmental organizations. I. Potter, David M., 1961– II. Title.
JZ4841.A36 2006
327.1—dc22
2006023642
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Printing 2006
Contents
Illustrations vii
Foreword ix
Abbreviations and Acronyms xiii
Part I
Overview of NGOs in International Politics
1 NGOs and International Relations Theory 5
2 NGO Evolution 19
3 NGO Roles in International Politics 37
4 NGO Relations with States 57
5 NGOs and IGOs 75
Part II
Case Studies
6 NGOs and Foreign Aid 101
7 NGOs and Transnational Accountability
in Bangladesh 125
8 NGOs and International Security 153
9 NGOs and Human Rights: Women’s Rights at the UN 183
10 NGOs and Global Environmental Activism 209
v
vi Contents
Part III
Conclusion
11 Conclusion 241
Bibliography 257
About the Authors 271
Index 273
Illustrations
Box 1–1. Are NGOs and NPOs Different? 9
Figure 2–1. INGOs Headquarters by Region 20
Table 2–1. NGO Establishment in the Federal Republic
of Germany and Japan 22
Box 2–1. Civil Society and Democracy 31
Box 3–1. NGOs in Focus: Oxfam 39
Box 3–2. NGOs in Focus: CARE International 41
Box 3–3. NGOs in Focus: Amnesty International (AI) 47
Box 3–4. NGOs in Focus: Women’s Environment and
Development Organization 51
Box 3–5. NGOs in Focus: Consumers International 52
Box 4–1. Key Concept: German NGOs and Interest-Group
Politics 60
Box 4–2. Case Study: Human Rights and Opposition to States 65
Box 5–1. The Commission for the Relief of Belgium 77
Box 5–2. The Beijing Conference 85
Box 5–3. NGOs in Focus: Fifty Years Is Enough 88
Box 5–4. Grameen Assesses the IGOs 92
Box 6–1. Key Concept: NGO Definitions Again 107
Table 6–1. NGO Grants as a Proportion of All Financial Flows
to Aid Recipient Countries, 2003, in US$ million (% of total) 107
Box 6–2. The Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign
Aid (ACVFA) 110
Box 6–3. Dilemmas of Public Funding 113
vii
viii Illustrations
Table 6–2. NGOs and Foreign Aid Budgets: NGO Subsidies
as a Proportion of Selected OECD Aid Budgets,
1983–1986, 1997, 2000 117
Box 7–1. Overview of Bangladesh 129
Box 7–2. NGOs and the Creation of Bangladesh 131
Box 7–3. NGOs in Focus: Nijera Kori’s Transnational Relations 133
Box 7–4. NGOs in Focus: Gono Shahajjo Shangstha (GSS)
Challenges the Status Quo 135
Figure 7–1. The NGO Chain 136
Box 7–5. Case Study: Two CARE Programs in Bangladesh 139
Table 7-1. Accountable to Whom? 142
Table 8–1. NGOs Awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace 154
Box 8–1. The Ottawa Convention: Key Points 161
Table 8–2. Civil-Military Affairs Activities by UN Peacekeeping
Forces in East Timor 166
Box 8–2. Peacebuilding in Bosnia 172
Box 8–3. The NGO Code of Conduct in Disaster Relief 175
Box 9–1. UN Commission on the Status of Women 187
Box 9–2. Comments on the Beijing Platform of Action 199
Box 9–3. Making Governments Keep Their Promises 200
Figure 9–1. Pattern of Women’s Transnational Advocacy
Networks 202
Box 10–1: NGOs in Focus: Global Climate Coalition (GCC) 212
Box 10–2: NGOs in Focus: International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 214
Box 10–3. NGOs in Focus: World Resource Institute (WRI) 218
Box 10–4. NGOs in Focus: The Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES) 220
Box 10–5. NGOs in Focus: World Wildlife Fund 221
Table 10–1. Formal NGO Participation in Six Environmental
Treaties 230
Foreword
In the last three decades NGOs have emerged as an important force in
the fields of development and human rights. Few countries in the world
do not have indigenous NGOs, and their numbers are growing all the
time. The same is true for international NGOs, whose work extends
across national borders. This phenomenon has emerged in the public
eye all over the world. Newspapers and other media frequently carry
stories about NGOs, and government agencies and officials often call
for closer interaction between the government and such organizations.
Indeed, agreement that NGOs have an important place in policymaking
and public life spans the political spectrum.
The Nobel prizes to The International Campaign to Ban Landmines
in 1997 and to Medicins Sans Frontieres in 1999 have highlighted the
emergence of these organizations as “new” forces in international poli-
tics. Yet no work to date has provided a comprehensive overview of the
varieties of interaction between NGOs and states, between NGOs and
international organizations, or among NGOs in international politics.
This is especially true of books aimed at undergraduates; nowhere have
we found a book that surveys the range of NGO activities and relation-
ships in a manner accessible in the classroom. The scholarly work tends
to be too specialized. Work by practitioners tends to be interesting to
students but does not address key international relations issues. While a
number of books on NGOs in international politics have been pub-
lished in recent years, individual contributions tend to address one or a
few aspects of the topic. Scholars, for example, have focused on NGOs’
ability to provide alternative views to state policies, to promote civil
society both domestically and internationally, and to deliver services to
people beyond the reach of state programs.
There is, moreover, a fundamental break between the literature on
NGOs and economic development in developing countries and that on
NGOs in international politics. Yet clearly the two research agendas over-
lap. This is most apparent in the literature on foreign aid and on NGO
ix