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NGOs as Agents of Democratic “Global Civil Politics”
The rapid expansion of non-governmental sector at the global level invites scholars’
attention to analysis and evaluation of the role and influence of non-state actors in nearly
all issue areas of the global polity. In this essay I present an assessment of the extent and
significance of the democratizing role of NGOs in global politics drawing on a vast body
of literature. To accomplish this goal, I develop a conceptual model of global civil
society, examine the association between global civil society and democratization of
global politics, and define the democratizing efforts of NGOs within this broader
conceptual framework. I examine the proposed model that describes the role of NGOs in
establishing a more democratic mode of global governance in light of the existing
approaches to international relations and against empirical findings of the scholarship
on global civil society and NGOs.
“Global associational revolution” of the late twentieth century precipitated
momentous changes in the global landscape.
1
Through different types of citizens’
associations - social movements, non-governmental organizations, advocacy networks,
issue campaigns, etc. – citizens have found ways to speak up about their concerns and to
act on politics affecting their lives. Through the creation of an intricate web of social
networks that link individuals and organizations from virtually every corner of the globe,
citizens expanded their influence beyond national borders. The upsurge of global citizen
action through multiple forms of associations and group activities poses a potential
empirical challenge to the state-centric model of governance of the modern world and
invites the attention of scholars to analysis of this new phenomenon of international life.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are “a basic form of popular participation
and representation in the present-day world” (Boutros-Ghali 1996, 7). The questions of
the place and roles of NGOs in the “global associational revolution” received
considerable scholarly attention.
2
NGOs are often regarded as the “agents of social
change” (Harper 2001, 247) and the “motor for the dynamic of change” (Cooper 2002,
1). One problem with this understanding of NGOs as agents of social change is that these
“agents” are typically taken out of a broader context of relational and normative
networks. Occasionally, NGOs are presented as the vanguard of an emerging global civil
society, which provides a broader cross-national setting for non-governmental
organizations as well as other forms of citizens’ associations.
3
Yet, there have been
relatively few studies that integrated thorough conceptualization and theoretical analysis
1
Salamon, L. 1994. “The Rise of the Nonprofit Sector: A Global Associational Revolution.” Foreign
Affairs 73(4)
2
See, for example, Dehqanzada, Y. Yahya. 2000. Annotated Bibliography in The Third Force: The Rise of
Transnational Civil Society, ed. Ann M. Florini. Japan Center for International Exchange and Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC
3
There is vast literature that looks at non-governmental actors as agents of civil society in one country at a
time or draws comparisons of civic activities of NGOs across states (CIVICUS 1994; Fisher 1998;
Salamon 1999). There is expanding literature on the networks linking NGOs and other civil society
organizations across national borders. A useful up-to-date bibliography is Tarrow, Sidney and Melanie
Acostavalle. 1999. “Transnational Politics: A Bibliographic Guide to Recent Research on Transnational
Movements and Advocacy Groups.” Working Paper, Contentious Politics Series, Lajarsfeld Center at
Columbia University <http://www.ciaonet.org/wps/tws01/>.
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