scholarly journals Legitimizing Private Actors in Global Governance: From Performance to Performativity

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elke Krahmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Performance Assessments ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Private Security Companies ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Democratic Control ◽  
State Governance ◽  
Private Actors

Global governance is frequently criticised because of major legitimacy deficits, including lack of public accountability and democratic control. Within this context, questions about the legitimacy of non-state governance actors, such as non-governmental organizations, transnational corporations and private security companies, are neither an exception nor a surprise. Many actors have, therefore, turned to the measurement of performance, defined as publicly beneficial outcomes, in order to gain legitimacy. However, the rise of performance assessments as legitimizing practice is not without problems. Taking global security and health interventions as examples, this article contends that the immaterial, socially constructed and inherently contested nature of such public goods presents major obstacles for the assessment of performance in terms of observable, measurable and attributable outcomes. Performance is therefore frequently replaced by performativity, i.e. a focus on the repetitive enactment of specific forms of behaviour and capabilities, which are simply equated with the intended results. The implications for how global public goods are conceptualized and, ultimately, implemented are profound.

Non-Governmental Organizations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Bloodgood
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
International Ngos

Research on non-governmental organizations (NGOs, often international NGOs, or INGOs) has advanced over the last several decades from demonstrating that NGOs matter in shaping economic development and foreign aid to examining the potential for NGOs to advocate for new rights, set standards for environmental protections, and establish alternative economic arrangements in international relations. The study of NGOs as organizations has opened their potential as interest groups as well as economic actors in their own rights. Moving forward, new data and new theory is needed to fully develop International Political Economy (IPE) understandings of NGO motives, intentions, strategies, and power in global governance.

INGOs and Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships

2018 ◽  
pp. 210-230
Author(s):  
Marianne Beisheim ◽  
Anne Ellersiek ◽  
Jasmin Lorch
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Collective Goods ◽  
State Governance ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Stakeholder Partnerships ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

This chapter analyses two groups of non-profit external non-state governance actors that are active in areas of limited statehood (ALS): international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs). After some examples of the collective goods these actors provide in contexts of limited statehood, their effectiveness is assessed in terms of output, outcome, and impact. It is found that in ALS, the activities of MSPs and INGOs can become part of the solution, but may also exacerbate existing problems. Empirical research shows that it is already demanding for INGOs and MSPs to produce good output in ALS, let alone broader impact. The analysis provides insights on the conditions under which INGOs and MSPs can—and cannot—successfully provide governance in ALS and how their activities impact limited statehood itself. Finally, the findings are discussed against the background of recent trends affecting governance by external state and non-state actors in ALS.

Part VI Relationships of International Organizations with Other Actors, Ch.33 Relations with Civil Society

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scholte Jan Aart
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
The Third ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Regulatory Processes ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the forms, consequences, and challenges of civil society involvement in contemporary global governance. It is organized as follows. The first section considers definitions of civil society. The second section maps the various involvements of civil society actors in global regulatory processes. The third section surveys different theoretical understandings of the relationship between civil society and global governance. The fourth section assesses the substantive impacts of civil society interventions in global governance, that is, how NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) and other civil society groups affect institutional developments, agendas, decisions, discourses, and deeper structures of global governance. The fifth section considers the relationship between civil society and legitimacy in global governance. The conclusion includes several suggestions for future enhancement of civil society engagement of global-scale regulation.

scholarly journals Private experiments in global governance: primary commodity roundtables and the politics of deliberation

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Brassett ◽  
Ben Richardson ◽  
William Smith
Keyword(s):  
Global Governance ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Sustainability Criteria ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Commodity Production ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Regulatory Regimes ◽  
Experimentalist Governance

Emerging scholarship on global governance offers ever-more detailed analyses of private regulatory regimes. These regimes aim to regulate some area of social activity without a mandate from, or participation of, states or international organizations. While there are numerous empirical studies of these regimes, the normative theoretical literature has arguably struggled to keep pace with such developments. This is unfortunate, as the proliferation of private regulatory regimes raises important issues about legitimacy in global governance. The aim of this paper is to address some of these issues by elaborating a theoretical framework that can orientate normative investigation of these schemes. It does this through turning to the idea of experimentalist governance. It is argued that experimentalism can provide an important and provocative set of insights about the processes and logics of emerging governance schemes. The critical purchase of this theory is illustrated through an application to the case of primary commodities roundtables, part of ongoing attempts by non-governmental organizations, producers, and buyers to set sustainability criteria for commodity production across a range of sectors. The idea of experimentalist governance, we argue, can lend much needed theoretical structure to debates about the normative legitimacy of private regulatory regimes.

Non-state authority and global governance

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (S1) ◽  
pp. 113-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIMITRIOS KATSIKAS
Keyword(s):  
Global Governance ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Transnational Governance ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
State Authority ◽  
Private Power ◽  
State Governance ◽  
Private Actors

AbstractNon-state actors are increasingly assuming an active part in the design and construction of the institutional framework of global governance. The introduction of the concept of private authority in the literature has provided us with an insightful analytical tool for a deeper understanding of the role of private actors in the context of global governance. However, in order to achieve this objective the concept of private authority needs to be defined accurately and applied consistently in the examination of non-state governance schemes. This article aims to delineate the concept of private authority in the context of global governance first, by outlining the main characteristics of authority and identifying instances of inconsistent and loose application of these characteristics in the private authority literature and secondly, by offering a starting point for an analytically consistent typology of non-state authority. Following this analysis, a more thoroughly defined and analytically consistent concept of transnationalinauthority is presented. This new conceptualisation locates non-stateinauthority in the amalgamation of public authority and private power in the context of complex transnational governance structures, and can hopefully helps us gain a deeper understanding of the increasing institutionalisation and legitimation of transnational non-state governance.

Non-Governmental Organizations as Motors of Change

2007 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornelia Beyer
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations

AbstractOn one hand, NGOs are seen as experts because of their proximity to the problems they address. They provide knowledge relevant to the solution of these problems and can bring this into the political process. They are able to increase the efficiency of global governance by participating in the policy-formation processes of international organizations. In this paper I will explain the role and functions of NGOs as described in the debate about their legitimacy and theorize – while applying Ernst Haas's theory of organizational learning – on the mechanisms likely to lead to their increasing integration into international institutions as well as the implications of this integration.

scholarly journals Global government and civil society

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-55
Author(s):  
L. A. Gainutdinova
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Global Civil Society ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Market Driven ◽  
Global Government

In this article the frames of democratic global government, which determine the role of a global civil society as an alternative of market-driven globalization, are being analyzed. With this intention the main theories of international political economy – hegemonic stability theory, complex independence theory, new multilateralism, and also the comparison of the approaches to the potential possibilities of strengthening of the role of civil society in the system of global government are being examined.In order to create the necessary framework for democratic global governance in the twenty-first century, global and national civil societies must enter into more intensive synergies with individual national states and international organizations. Therefore, the article aims to define the role of global civil society in the project of global democratic governance as an alternative to market-driven globalization and to consider the main theories of international political economy by comparing their approaches to the potential opportunities of civil society in the global governance system.The article concludes that, based on the definition of opportunities for expanding the role of civil society in global governance, the theory of complex interdependence and the new multilateralism offer the most appropriate theoretical framework for examining the contribution of civil society in removing the tensions generated by globalization. One can talk about the expansion of the role of civil society in global governance, as the growing presence of social movements and non-governmental organizations on the global scene has become visible due to their activities in the areas of services, education, and protection of rights that contribute to the development of a global cooperative system.

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