Understanding Global Politics by Klaus Larres

Author:Klaus Larres
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2019-07-09T00:00:00+00:00

What are NGOs?

The term ‘NGO’ denotes an organisation that is voluntary in participation, not-for-profit in orientation and not seeking elected office. NGOs are therefore viewed as distinct from governments, political parties and business actors. In the scholarly literature, NGOs are understood as consisting of ‘durable, bounded, voluntary relationships among individuals’ (Weiss and Gordenker, 1996, p. 18) and as ‘private, voluntary, nonprofit, groups whose primary aim is to influence publicly some form of social change’ (Khagram et al., 2002, p. 6). In this regard, Tvedt (1998, p. 2) views NGOs as the embodiment of a kind of ‘organised altruism’ and as symbols of societal responsibility and global morality in an increasingly fragmented postmodern world polity. Prominent examples of NGOs active in the global political arena include ActionAid, Amnesty International, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bird Life International, CARE International, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, Climate Action Network International, Fairtrade International, Greenpeace International, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Trade Union Confederation, Médecins Sans Frontières, Oxfam International, Save the Children, Transparency International, Wikileaks, World Vision and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), among the many thousands calculated to be active in global politics (see Union of International Associations, 2015).

The various classifications of NGOs shed light on the broad goals and activities of NGOs. Weiss and Gordenker (1996, p. 20) state that NGOs are formal organisations that engage in ‘sovereignty-free’ behaviour and aspire to be self-governing. However, these authors further make the distinction between government-organised NGOs (GONGOs), such as those set up by governments in the former Soviet bloc, quasi-NGOs (QUANGOs) such as the ICRC, and donor-organised NGOs (DONGOs), for example, those established by the United Nations (UN) to serve particular purposes (Weiss and Gordenker, 1996, pp. 20–21). Additional labels for NGOs include business-organised NGOs (BONGOs), religious NGOs (RINGOs) and environmental NGOs (ENGOs) (see Weiss and Gordenker, 1996).

Others have categorised NGOs according to their broad issue focus. O’Brien et al. (2000), for instance, distinguish the activities of environmental, gender equity and labour NGOs. Additional labels include aid or development NGOs (Fisher, 1998) and human rights NGOs (Bob, 2009). Complicating matters however is the growing phenomenon of NGOs from differing issue areas joining together in common campaigns or activities. The fair trade movement for example involves a complex array of NGOs from those primarily concerned with the working conditions of producers in developing countries to those seeking to ensure the environmental sustainability of production processes (Hutchens, 2011).

NGOs are also frequently distinguished according to the geographical extent of their operations, with scholars pointing to differences between small-scale local NGOs, national-level NGOs, international NGOs and confederations of international NGOs (Boli and Thomas, 1999; Khagram et al., 2002). International NGOs such as Oxfam International are generally considered to have superior influence, finances and thus autonomy compared to local or national NGOs, though many international NGOs possess links to nationally based affiliate organisations. The NGO Greenpeace, for instance, comprises Greenpeace International in Amsterdam, a presence in more than 55 countries, and 2.8 million supporters worldwide that finance the organisation (Greenpeace International, 2016).

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