Student Blog: Thoughts On The Law And The Legal Field
ADVOCACY NGOS
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are an important aspect of today’s international governance. The United Nations defines NGO as a non-profit entity. NGO legitimacy in international governance is largely derived from claims of representation of under-served, disenfranchised, or otherwise disempowered populations. Many NGOs serve as legal entities, advocating rights and remedies for their beneficiaries. Advocacy NGOs act more like a political “interest group.” There are less accountability concerns and issues for such NGOs since they must obey the laws of the country in which they operate in regardless of their base. See Ronald Dworkin, Is Democracy Possible here? Principles for a New Political Debate (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006). However, advocacy NGOs should not be held to standard of scientific researchers with regards to social realities. They have the right to promote differing views, within the parameters of the law, and to be controversial in supporting the opaque or transparent groups of the society. There are many external controls such as the media, opposing NGOs, and politicians, to make certain of advocacy NGOs’ accountability. The internal accountability issue is not so strong in advocacy NGOs, because they of the post hoc member and special donor support mechanism. However, advocacy NGOs are accused of disregarding ideas originating in poor and developing countries. Chantal Mouffe, On the Political (New York: Routledge, 2005). This is mainly due to the fact that the Western NGOs have more support and funds and represent the “social capital.” Thus, the Northern NGOs are at an advantage in promoting their ideas. In many instances, Western NGOs consider themselves the voice of the developing countries and the poor and influence the decision making in such countries without actually representing the culture or the populations through their beliefs. Mouffe, supra, 18. On the positive side, advocacy NGOs address some important issues and populations that have previously been neglected. Some great examples are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s focus on disease control and AlretNet’s aim at “forgotten crisis” uncovering orphan issues particularly identified by the victims themselves.
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