referring to a privileged e ́lite network, to which counterparts could certainly
be found in Western countries. One lasting consequence of the nomenclatura
system will be that the vast bulk of those experienced enough to hold any
demanding post in Russia, or other previously Soviet republics, will have been
members of the party; even though the power of the CPSU had been broken
almost everywhere, the new rulers were not able to dispense with the services
of its past members. (See alsoapparatchik.)
Non-Governmental Organizations
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are typically thought to be entities
like Oxfam or Amnesty International, but the term can also cover the National
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC, a major British
NGO) or the American League of Women Voters. NGOs are private bodies,
usually of a charitable nature and legal status, operating on a ‘not for profit’
basis to provide wide-ranging benefits for individuals or societies. They are
sometimes seen as pressure groups, and indeed part of their activity will involve
bringing public pressure on governments and international organizations to
adopt their preferred policy. They are, however, much more than pressure
groups because they take it upon themselves to achieve ends rather than merely
try to influence the governmental provision of goods. The really large and
international NGOs, such as Oxfam, have quite considerable budgets, almost
entirely donated by the public; complex bureaucracies; and deep reservoirs of
public support and trust. Indeed, NGOs are often are trusted more than
governments and invariably more than any commercial organization because
of public faith in altruism as their only motivation. The title, Non-Govern-
mental Organization, comes from theUnited Nations, which needed some
way of recognizing and giving access to a range of bodies other than the nation
states which comprise its official membership. As a title, it is too broad, but it
confers some legitimacy, and makes it easier for an NGO to operate in several
different countries where there might be considerable resentment at the
intrusion of an agency formally tied to another state. It is, for example, easier
for a country to allow a team from Amnesty International to inspect conditions
in its prisons than to allow another state, or even the UN itself, to do so.
Because the NGO is, precisely, non-governmental, no precedent is set which
allows future incursions on national sovereignty. There is a problem arising
from the public’s faith in the motives of NGOs, namely that they also seem to
take on an authority that may not be appropriate. If an environmental lobby
organization denounces government policy on pollution control, it is very hard
for the government in question to establish its own credentials, because
whatever it says it is always seen as suspect when compared with the apparently
impartial and ‘innocent’ views of the NGO. Furthermore, NGOs inevitably
Non-Governmental Organizations