nongovernmental organ izations
Nonstate actors include nongovernmental organ izations (NGOs), transnational net-
works, foundations, and multinational corporations, though they are not sovereign and
do not have the same kinds of power resources as states. This chapter covers NGOs.
We will examine multinational corporations in Chapter 9.
NGOs are generally private, voluntary organ izations whose members are individu-
als or associations that come together to achieve a common purpose, often oriented to
a public good. They are incredibly diverse entities, ranging from entirely local and/or
grassroots organ izations to those or ga nized nationally and transnationally. Some are
entirely private— that is, their funding comes only from private sources. Others rely
partially on government funds or aid in kind. Some are open to mass membership;
others are closed- member groups or federations. These differences have led to an alphabet
soup of acronyms specifying types of NGOs. These include GONGOs (government-
organized NGOs), BINGOs (business and industry NGOs), DONGOs (donor-
organized NGOs), and ONGOs (operational NGOs), to name a few.
The number of NGOs has grown dramatically. The Yearbook of International
Organ izations (2013 –2014) identifies 8,500 NGOs with an international dimension,
and exclusively national NGOs number in the millions. Their exponential growth can
be explained by the global spread of democracy, which provides an opening for NGO
inputs; the explosion of UN- sponsored global conferences in the 1990s, where
NGOs took on new tasks; and the electronic communication revolution, which enables
NGOs to communicate and network both with each other and with their constituen-
cies, providing a more forceful voice in the international- policy arena.
the growth of ngo Power and Influence
Although NGOs are not new actors in international politics, they are growing in
importance.^15 In Chapter 10, we discuss one of the earliest NGO- initiated efforts at
transnational organ ization dedicated to the abolition of slavery. These NGOs took the
first steps in the 1800s by defining the practice as inhumane and unjust, but they were
not strong enough to accomplish international abolition. NGOs organ izing on behalf
of peace and noncoercive methods of dispute settlement also appeared during the
1800s, as did the International Committee of the Red Cross, which advocated for
humanitarian treatment for wounded soldiers, and international labor unions fighting
for better working conditions. During the first half of the twentieth century, these
same groups were instrumental in lobbying for a “league of nations” and the Interna-
tional Labour Or ga ni za tion, and subsequently, in supporting the establishment of the
United Nations and the related agencies protecting diff er ent groups of people, including
246 CHAPTER SEvEN ■ IGOs, INterNatIONal law, aNd NGOs