Chapter 8 International Non-Governmental Organizations

and their Role in a Regional Perspective

After completing this chapter, you will be able to:

 To understand the role of International Non- Governmental
Organizations (INGOs) in World politics.
 To differentiate INGOs from the other non-state actors.
 To learn about INGOs contribution to the international and
regional intergovernmental organizations (IGOs).
Chapter Outline
The Growing Importance of INGOs in the
International Relations
Definition and Classification
INGOs at Intergovernmental and Regional
Organizations
 Key Terms
• State-centric Paradigm
• Global Governance
• Normative Issues
• Democratic Deficit
• Legitimacy
• Paradigm
• Environmental Degradation
• Unit of Analysis
• Participatory Democracy
• Recognition
• Delegate tasks
• Human Rights Violation
• Just World
• Pluralist Society
INTRODUCTION
• International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have
become an integrated part of international politics where they
play significant roles that fit their agenda.
• As a result, they have been active not only in the developed
world but also in the third world countries, even including the
totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. Their active role in
political, economic, and sociocultural matters was facilitated by
the end of Cold War which created a fertile/productive ground
for a greater involvement of non-state actors of international
politics, particularly the INGOs.
THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF INGOS IN THE
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
• The number of the INGOs has increased exponentially over the last decades,
mostly because of the opportunities they were able to flourish/discover. In
parallel to the increase in a number of INGOs, diversification/change, in terms of
area of activity, focus, size, and composition have also taken place. Given that
they play roles in some specific areas that are more significant than those the
states do, and that they actually outnumber both the states and the
intergovernmental organizations, it becomes apparent that a thorough study of
the INGOs is imperative for a better understanding of international politics which
is, thus, no longer based on the recognition of nation-states as main units of
analysis. As it is by now well known that while some mainstream IR theories such
as Realism and Marxism have overlooked the politics of INGOs in the
international relations, others like liberalism or pluralism have underlined their
potential for understanding of the global order, “locating the bridging role that
INGOs play for many issues and across many societies” (DeMars and Dijkzeul,
2015).
 The involvement of INGOs
• The involvement of INGOs is very diverse in nature, and large in number, in world
politics brings the need of significant alterations in the existing paradigms/models
and analyses, as the study of international relations has historically focused only
on inter-state relations, a small part of global transactions.
• Joseph S. Nye, Jr. and Robert O. Keohane (1971: 329), prominent scholars of
international politics, join this view, noting that “students and practitioners of
international politics have traditionally concentrated their attention on
relationships between states. State, regarded as an actor with purposes and
power, is the basic unit of action; its main agents are the diplomat and soldier”.
By introducing the concept of complex interdependence, Nye and Keohane
(1971: 330) stress that “the environment of interstate politics, however, does not
include only these powerful and well-known forces. A good deal of intersocietal
intercourse, with significant political importance, takes place without
governmental control”.
State-centrism

State-centrism is a key concept in discussions of

sovereignty, justice, and the global political order and
of changes within that order.
Earlier approaches were marred/stained by excessive
state-centrism, and need to be reconsidered in the light
of contemporary circumstances’.
 Unit of analysis
• Unit of analysis is the major entity that is being analyzed in a study. It is
the ‘what’ or ‘who’ that is being studied.
• In social science research, typical units of analysis include individuals,
social or private organizations, states (most common), and
international organizations, and so forth.
Global governance
• Global governance is a movement towards political
cooperation among transnational actors (states,
intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, etc.), aimed
at negotiating responses to problems that affect more
than one state or region.
DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION
• The term NGO in international relations frequently associates with the term
INGO. Some calls them INGOs to distinguish from national NGOs. In this chapter,
INGOs and NGOs are used interchangeably and both of them have international
aspects in their activities.
• For instance, Bob Reinalda thinks NGOs are domestic actors when they confine
their activities to their national political systems.
• They become transnational actors as soon as they operate across national
boundaries, for instance by establishing a relationship with a similar NGO in
another country. When several NGOs from three or more countries establish an
international organization (INGO) to serve as a mechanism for cooperation
among national NGOs in international affairs, NGOs through their INGO become
international actors (Reinalda, 2001: 12).
 INGOS AT INTERGOVERNMENTAL AND
REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
• Official status recognized in the founding treaties of intergovernmental
organizations (IGOs), created through interstate cooperation, offers a
fertile ground and great opportunities for the involvement of NGOs in
both policy-making and legal processes.
• Those INGOs with a global outlook pay particular attention to making
sure that they are admitted in the setting as prescribed by an IGO. This
both increases their legitimacy as a player of international politics and
enables them to participate in the activities of the organization. In
often cases, these activities are focused on settlement of regional
problems, making the INGOs develop a regional perspective.
The INGOs arrangements
• The arrangements for consultation work with INGOs are made in
accordance with UN ECOSOC Resolution 1296 (XLIV) (1968) as follows:
1. The organization shall be concerned with matters falling within the
competence of the Economic and Social Council with respect to the
human rights.
2. The organization shall be of a representative character and of
recognized international standing; it shall represent a substantial
proportion, and express the views of major sections, of the population
in different regions of the world.
 ECOSOC Committee
The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations a standing committee of the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that was established by the Council in 1946,
is responsible for matters concerning the admission and accreditation of the NGOs.
It reports directly to ECOSOC, and the two reports of its annual regular session
(usually at the end of January) and resumed session (in May) include draft
resolutions or decisions on matters calling for action by the Council.
To ensure fair representation, 19 members of the Committee in the ECOSOC are
elected on the basis of the following scheme:
• 5 members from the African States;
• 4 members from the Asian States;
• 2 members from the Eastern European States;
• 4 members from the Latin American and Caribbean States; and
• 4 members from the Western European and other States.
Council of Europe and INGOs
• Council of Europe (CoE) is one of the major regional intergovernmental
organizations, focusing on the political, social, cultural and economic affairs of the
European continent and serving as a common platform and forum of interstate
cooperation.
• Through its roles, the Council represents a fairly regional aspect of international
politics. For this reason, the institutional framework defined for the participation
of INGOs in its activities bears huge importance for the sake of a discussion on a
regional perspective of non-governmental influence.
• The Council, in line with its mission and mandate of promoting human rights and
democracy, as well as other relevant normative notions/ideas and practices, has
been eager to establish cooperation with the civil society sector, as often
represented by the INGOs. The framework of cooperation is fairly institutional
and favorable to the INGOs as a way to facilitate their participation in the
Council’s actions and deliberations.
 Continue
• European Council: an institution of the European Union that consists of the heads of
government of the EU Member States, the European Commission President and the High
Representative for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy. It’s located in Brussels, Belgium, but
meetings are often held in the other cities.
• Council of the European Union: another institution of the European Union that consists of
ministers of the EU Member States who discuss and prepare EU legislation. Together with the
European Parliament, it’s the main legislative body. It’s located in Brussels, Belgium.
• Council of Europe: an international organization that parallels the European Union. It focuses
on democracy, human rights and cultural exchange, and is best known for the European
Convention on Human Rights.
• It has its own institutions, including a Committee of Ministers and a Parliamentary Assembly,
and, of course, the European Court of Human Rights.
• The Council of Europe has 47 member States, including, for example, Azerbaijan, Russia,
Turkey and Ukraine.
• The Council of Europe is headquartered in Strasbourg, France.
Recognition of Legal Personality of INGOs
• One of the most progressive actions the Council has taken towards
making the INGOs more prominent in regional governance is the
adoption of legal tools to attribute legal personality to the INGOs.
• This set of moves is a very bold step given that the INGOs are not
recognized elsewhere in public international law. The Committee of
Ministers of the Council of Europe, taking note of the absence of any
international instrument in force seeking to facilitate the activities of
INGOs at international level appointed a Committee of experts on
INGOs with the task of drafting a legal document on INGOs. Its efforts
resulted in the drafting of a text fulfilling this objective. European
Convention on the Recognition of the Legal Personality of International
Non-Governmental Organizations, adopted 24 April 1986, offers a
framework for legal personality of INGOs.
 The European Union and the INGOs
• The European Union (EU) is a supranational organization which developed a political identity
partially separate and independent of the identities and sovereignties of the member states. A
fairly strong regional organization, the EU has been committed to the maintenance of pluralist
and participatory democracy across the territories of the Union and to the promotion of
human rights and enhanced status of the people in the political domain. Both the political
orientation of the Union and the EU law has been designed in a way to live up this idea and
fulfill this main goal.
• In an attempt to address what is called a democratic deficit problem, the EU has made room
for NGO participation as a viable solution to ensure that people will have a voice to be heard in
the political and legal deliberations at both the EU institutions and the national political
settings. In line with this conviction, the EU has maintained cooperation with INGOs since the
1990s when it decided to transform itself from an ordinary intergovernmental organization into
a true political union. This cooperation took the form of a broad institutional collaboration as
well as interest-based micro-level lobbying and other similar initiatives. In other words, the
decision to open the doors for cooperation offered a huge incentive for the INGOs as well to
advance their goals and reach out to a larger audience, as well as to make greater use of the EU
resources.
 The European Commission and Civil Society
• The Commission, in a discussion paper of 2000, acknowledges
the role of the NGOs in enhancing the quality of participatory
democracy.
• The NGOs are seen as key partners in efforts to improve
democracy within the EU and to promote democratization in
candidate countries as well as developing nations. For this
reason, the Commission considers a partnership with local
NGOs as a fundamental priority. The paper further elaborates
on the areas in which the NGOs could make a genuine/honst
contribution. To this end, it cites the NGOs as representing the
views of specific groups of citizens to the European institutions.
 Group assignment
Every and each group shall discuss one of the following:
1- The cooperation between IGOs and INGOs
2- The involvement of INGOs in peace building
3- Similarities and differences between regional development banks and
multilateral development banks