Yet NGOs seldom work alone. The communications revolution has linked NGOs
with each other, formally and informally. Increasingly, NGOs are developing regional
and global networks through linkages with other NGOs. These networks and co ali tions
create multilevel linkages among dif er ent organ izations; each organ ization retains
its separate orga nizational character and membership, but through the linkages, the
organ izations enhance each other’s power. These networks have learned from each
other, just as constructivists would have predicted. Environmentalists and women’s
groups have studied human rights campaigns for guidance in building international
norms. Environmentalists seeking protection of spaces for indigenous peoples also
increasingly use the language of human rights.
We usually associate NGOs with humanitarian and environmental groups work-
ing for a greater social, economic, or po liti cal good, but NGOs may also be formed for
malevolent purposes— the Mafia, international drug cartels, and even Al Qaeda being
prominent examples. The Mafia, traditionally based in Italy but with networks in
Rus sia, Eastern Eu rope, and the Amer i cas, is engaged in numerous illegal business prac-
tices, including money laundering, tax evasion, and fraud. International drug cartels,
many with origins in Colombia, function with suppliers in such far- reaching states as
Peru, Venezuela, Af ghan i stan, and Myanmar, while maintaining links with middle-
men in Nigeria, Mexico, Guinea, and the Ca rib bean to deliver illegal drugs to North
Amer i ca and Eu rope (see Chapter 11). What these NGOs share is a loose series of
networks across national bound aries that move illicit goods and ser vices in interna-
tional trade. Their leadership is dispersed and their targets ever changing, making their
activities particularly difficult to contain.
Al Qaeda, too, is such an NGO— decentralized, dispersed, with individuals
deeply committed to a cause, even at the price of death, and able and willing to take
initiatives in de pen dent of a central authority. The organ ization has changed and
expanded its goals over time, which has enabled it to recruit members willing to die
for diverse causes. Osama bin Laden had forged broad links and alliances with vari ous
groups until his death in 2011. Like all NGOs, Al Qaeda has benefited from new
communications technologies, using the Internet to collect information and train
individuals and using e- mail to transfer funds and communicate messages, all virtu-
ally untrackable. Opponents of Al Qaeda and these other NGOs are waging a dif er-
ent battle: a war on or ga nized crime, a war on drugs, and a war against terror.
the Power of ngos
What gives NGOs the ability to play such diverse roles in the international system?
What are their sources of power? Most NGOs rely on soft power, meaning credible
information, expertise, and the moral authority that attracts the attention and admi-
ration of governments and the public. This means that NGOs have resources such as
252 CHAPTER SEvEN ■ IGOs, InternatIOnal law, and nGOs