3
of global civil society and evaluation of the framework of global civil society as an
alternative paradigm of global governance.
4
The mode of global governance centered in the system of states exhibited lack of
sensitivity to global issues that are of central concern to many people. Democratization of
global governance has become an important subject on the international agenda.
5
Global
civil society is now viewed as a civic engine capable of generating the energy and
resources needed to cope with global problems, a medium for democratization of
structures of global governance and global market (CIVICUS 1994, 5). The agents of
global civil society have a crucial role to play in the democratization of global politics. A
solid understanding of the role of NGOs in the process of social and political
transformations leading to more democratic global governance is therefore essential.
There is a wealth of comparative studies of democratization documenting the role of
civil society in the promotion and struggle for democratization, endurance of democracy,
and consolidation of democratic forces (Bystydzienski and Sekhon 1999; Monshipouri
1995; Putnam 1995; Rudebeck and Törnkquist 1998; Salamon et al. 1999). The
international relations scholarship examined the impact of international factors and
dynamics of globalization on democratization (Edwards and Gaventa 2001; Grugel 2002;
Risse-Kappen 1995) and the reverse effects of democracy and democratization on the
behavior of states in international relations (Kozhemiakin 1998).
6
It is yet to be
theoretically corroborated and empirically demonstrated that a vibrant global civil society
is the key to a further democratization of global politics.
Thus, the modern scholarship that studies the roles of global civil society and its
agents in the democratization of global politics is marred with conceptual gaps and blank
theoretical spaces. To make the idea of NGOs as agents of social and political change
work we need to reconsider it by placing non-governmental actors within a broader
context of global civil society. To be able to locate NGOs within a framework of global
civil society, we need to define the concept of global civil society itself. To show that
NGOs are vehicles of democratization of global politics, we have to restore the missing
links between global civil society and democratization and validate empirically the
contribution of NGOs to the transformation of the world in a democratic direction.
The goal of the present study is not original. It purports to assess democratizing roles
of non-governmental organizations in modern global politics. The modus operandi is
what distinguishes the present work from other scholarship in the field. To realize the
stated goal, this study fills out conceptual voids, builds theoretical bridges between the
scholarship on global civil society and democratization, and systematically evaluates
empirical findings about the multi-faceted roles of NGOs in global politics. It draws
extensively on theoretical accomplishments of political theory, political philosophy, and
comparative politics. I start this essay with my contemplations on the nature, constitution,
4
Notable exceptions are the studies of Clark, Friedman, and Hochstetler 1998; Lipschutz 1992; and Walzer
1995.
5
See Boutros Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Peace, Preventive Diplomacy, Peacemaking and Peace-
Keeping. UN Doc. A/47/277 - S/24111 17 (1992); Boutros Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Democratization,
51st Session, at 973, U.N.Doc.A/51/761 (1996).
6
On how democracies produce international peace see Doyle, Michael W. 1983. “Kant, Liberal Legacies,
and Foreign Affairs,” Philosophy and Public Affairs 12(4); Owen, John M. 1994. “How Liberalism
Produces Democratic Peace,” International Security 19(2):87-125; and Russett, Bruce. 1983. Grasping the
Democratic Peace: Principles for a Post-Cold War World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Convention