Something quite extraordinary has been occurring on the world scene over the past two decades, though it has escaped the view of all but a relative handful of close observers. A striking upsurge has taken place in organized voluntary activity, in the formation and increased activism of private, nonprofit, or nongovernmental, organizations in virtually every part of the world. In the developed countries of North America, Europe, and Asia; in the developing societies of Asia, Africa, and Latin America; and in the former Soviet bloc, people are forming associations, foundations, and other similar institutions to deliver human services, promote grassroots development, prevent environmental degradation, protect civil rights, and pursue a thousand other objectives … [A] veritable “associational revolution” now seems underway at the global level that may constitute as significant a social and political development of the latter twentieth century as the rise of the nation-state was of the latter nineteenth.

The term “nongovernmental” has been resented by many organizations. It is indeed a manifestation of organizational apartheid – reminiscent of the “nonwhite” label so frequent in racist societies … the challenge is to discover the name … with which such bodies can identify. The problem may be insoluble, given the level of organizational apartheid practiced between organizations – even between NGOs. But if it is impossible to abandon the initials “NGO”, perhaps it is possible to reframe their significance in a more positive light. One candidate might be “Necessary-to-Governance Organizations” … The corresponding reframing of “IGO” might then be “Insufficient-for-Governance Organizations” …