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The Growth of International Nongovernmental Organization in the Twentieth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

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Transnational interactions have been defined as “the movement of tangible or intangible items across state boundaries when at least one actor is not an agent of a government or an intergovernmental organization.” Correspondingly, transnational organizations can be defined as transnational interactions institutionalized. There may be several reasons why participants in transnational interactions may find it convenient to found a permanent organization and to endow it with a certain amount of authority to coordinate their interaction. First of all, the intensity of a particular kind of interaction may rise to such a level that more personnel and other resources are needed to regulate and facilitate the process. The most economical way of responding to this need may be to establish a joint secretariat. Second, although the intensity of exchanges between each pair of interacting entities may be constant, the number of participants may increase. This process results in a problem of coordination and the need for a coordinating agent in the form of, for example, an international body. To put it slightly differently, institutionalization tends to follow multilateralization. Third, although neither of the above conditions may dbtain, an organization may be founded to achieve fast action in emergencies requiring joint operation. Finally, an organization, and in particular its officers, may serve as mediator and arbitrator in situations of conflict and competition between interacting members. Such activities are, for example, promoted by the Inter-American Commercial Arbitration Commission.

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Copyright © The IO Foundation 1971

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References

1 Joseph S. Nye, Jr., and Robert O. Keohane, introductory essay to this volume, p. 332. Cf., Rosenberg, Adrea, “International Interaction and the Taxonomy of International Organizations,” International Associations, 11 1967 (19th Year, No. 11), pp. 721729Google Scholar.

2 Much statistical information on transnational interaction has been collected and utilized by Angell, Robert Cooley in his Peace on the March: Transnational Participation (New Perspectives in Political Science, No. 19) (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1969)Google Scholar.

3 See the essays by Louis T. Wells Jr., and Raymond Vernon in this volume. For an effort to list and classify multinational business enterprises see Judge, A. J. N., “Multinational Business Enterprises,” in Yearbook, of International Organizations, ed. Tew, Eyvind S. (12th ed.; Brussels: Union of International Associations, 19681969), pp. 11891214Google Scholar.

4 See the Yearbook, of International Organizations, p. 13. Characteristics of organizations and processes in some of the particular fields are discussed by the authors in parts II and III of this volume.

5 The functions of the IATA are interestingly described by Robert L. Thornton in this volume; the essay by Robert W. Cox in this volume deals with problems of international trade unions.

6 The Union of International Associations in Brussels is itself an interesting transnational actor. It was founded in 1907 to serve as a documentation center on international governmental and nongovernmental organizations, their activities and meetings. The UIA also works to promote research in the same field and to publicize studies. I have found its publications very useful and appreciate the time spent by its staff in consultation with me.

7 Any international organization which is not established by inter-governmental agreement shall be considered as a non-governmental organization.…” ECOSOC Resolution 288 (X), 02 27, 1950Google Scholar.

8 There are several additional differences between the lists that can be briefly mentioned. The UIA excludes bilateral organizations, of which there appear to be few, organizations in which one national delegation is completely dominant through the budget or by means of the voting arrangements, and ephemeral organizations established to organize a single international meeting. It also excludes organizations without a formal structure. Moreover, universities, colleges, churches, and religious missions fall outside the scope of the UIA. On the other hand, the UIA definition includes some organizations that are formally subunits of others if they act relatively independently and elect their own officers. Thus, eleven international trade union secretariats of the WFTU as well as the WFTU itself are included. Profitmaking organizations are, of course, excluded.

9 EEC business and professional groups have been studied by Jean Meynaud and Dusan Sidjanski; see Croupes de pression et coopération européenne (Paris: Centre d'études des relations internationales, 1967)Google Scholar; and Les Groupes de pression dans la Communauté européenne (2 vols.; Montreal: Université de Montreal, 1969)Google Scholar.

10 None of the tables from UIA publications appears in its original form since I have split and regrouped the data.

11 The representative quality of the returned questionnaires turned out to be very high; see Skjelsbaek, Kjell, “Peace and the Systems of International Organizations” (Magister's thesis, University of Oslo, 1970)Google Scholar, chapter 3.

12 The traditional history of the Rosicrucian Order began in Egypt about 1500 B.C. It is an educational and fraternal order whose teachings present a system of metaphysical and physical philosophy to help the individual utilize his natural talents to better advantage. There are about 100,000 members in 53 countries. Cf., the Yearbook of International Organizations, pp. 976–977; and Speeckaert, G. P., The 1978 International Organizations Founded since the Congress of Vienna: A Chronological List (Documents for the Study of International Nongovernmental Relations, No. 7) (Brussels: Union of International Associations, 1957), p. 1Google Scholar.

13 Data for figure I is derived from Speeckaert, p. 1.

14 Skjelsbaek, , “Peace and the Systems of International Organizations,” chapter 4, p. 7Google Scholar.

15 It could be argued that the causal relationship operates in reverse, i.e., that NGOs make up an integrative subsystem of world society and that, if the integrative subsystem weakens, conflicts will erupt. In my mind there is an interplay beween the two factors, but interstate conflicts still have more effect on NGOs than the other way around. However, this may well be changed in the future as the NGO world expands. For an interesting theoretical justification of this kind of thinking see Smoker, Paul, “Nation State Escalation and International Integration,” Journal of Peace Research, 1967 (Vol. 4, No. 1), pp. 6175CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 Sixty-one percent of the organizations surveyed expected to gain new national branches in the future in spite of the small likelihood of a corresponding increase in the number of nation-states and territories.

17 The organizations were classified as regional on the basis of their names. I have tried this procedure myself and found it very difficult. There is a basic confusion about the term region. The UIA does not distinguish between region and continent which makes it hard to place Arab organizations or NGOs with members from Western Europe and North America only. Moreover, the name of an organization may be misleading, and it may have one or two members from other regions. Israel, for example, is represented in some European organizations. The blurred lines between regions may be annoying to the researcher, but they may be functional for other purposes. Cf., the discussion about the peace relevance of NGOs, section V of this essay.

18 Staff and budget indicators are, of course, closely related—the gamma correlation equals. 88. Missing data represents a difficult problem since many organizations, particularly the smaller ones, are loath to report the size of their staffs and budgets. But since these are probably the same organizations every year, the general trends shown may be reliable even though the particular means may be incorrect.

19 Descriptions of several “super-NGOs” are found in Lador-Lederer, J. J., International Non-Governmental Organizations and Economic Entities: A Study in Autonomous Organisation and Ius Gentium (Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff, 1962), p. 66Google Scholar. According to a recent count there are almost 100 superorganizations consisting partly or exclusively of other NGOs; cf., Judge, A. J. N., “International NGO Groupings,” International Associations, 02 1969 (21st Year, No. 2), pp. 8992Google Scholar.

20 For details see Skjelsbaek, , “Peace and the Systems of International Organizations,” chapter 3, p. 13Google Scholar. Negative relationships are formalized neither in the NGO world nor in the nation-state world; see ibid., appendix B, p. 1, for a discussion of negative alliances. Negative, or at least competitive, relationships may exist between NGOs of different ideological color. The most clear-cut ideological divisions are probably found between trade unions; cf., Cox, in this volume.

21 Speeckaert, p. xiv.

22 The mean number of national representations is different for the different categories of organizations. In general the means are lowest in those areas that are most relevant for politics. Commercial NGOs have, for example, about fifteen representations on an average which is half the mean number of countries represented in sports organizations.

23 For details see Skjelsbaek, Kjell, “Development of the Systems of International Organisations: A Diachronic Study,” Proceedings of the International Peace Research Association Third General Conference (IPRA Studies in Peace Research) (3 vols.; Assen, the Netherlands: Royal Van Gorcum, 1970), Vol. 2, pp. 90136Google Scholar; and “Peace and the Systems of International Organizations,” chapter 4, p. 25.

24 The term “country” is used here instead of state because many units that ordinarily do not classify as independent states may have representatives in NGOs, e.g., Hong Kong.

25 The classification was based on the PRIO list of countries and territories obtainable from the International Peace Research Institute. See also Gleditsch, Nils Petter, “The Structure of the International Airline Network” (Magister's thesis, University of Oslo, 1968)Google Scholar; and Skjelsbaek, , “Peace and the Systems of International Organizations,” appendix L, pp. 13Google Scholar. The complete distribution of countries in regions is found in ibid., appendix A, pp. 1–2.

26 To my knowledge the most thorough effort to define regions empirically has been done by Russett, Bruce M. in International Regions and the International System: A Study in Political Ecology (Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1967)Google Scholar. One of Russett's variables is comemberships in IGOs. I have done a similar factor analysis with NGO comemberships, and the differences from Russett's findings were small indeed.

27 Cluster and factor analysis bring out the four countries as a very distinct and isolated group. It is interesting to note that the National Liberation Front (NLF) of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), which probably would have clustered with the same countries had the organization been considered a separate political entity by the UIA, was represented in eleven NGOs in 1966. Some of these belonged to the international “establishment” and had consultative relations with the UN specialized agencies. A general evaluation of revolutionary organizations as transnational actors is found in J. Bowyer Bell's essay in this volume. The number of NGOs with world revolution as their primary concern seems to be very low.

28 Corresponding IGO figures show an increase from 1.5 percent in 1956 to 18.0 percent in 1966 for Black Africa; see Skjelsbaek, , “Peace and the Systems of International Organizations,” chapter 4, p. 3Google Scholar.

29 There are already signs of skepticism expressed by delegates from less developed countries within ECOSOC. The Soviet delegation, too, has several times criticized “infringement of national sovereignty” by, for example, Western-dominated civil rights NGOs. See Campbell, Persia, “United Nations Report: Do NGO's Have a Role?International Development Review, 09 1969 (Vol. II, No. 3), p. 37Google Scholar.

30 Pearson's correlation between an index of economic development and the number of representations in NGOs was.64 in 1964; cf., Skjelsbaek, , “Peace and the Systems of International Organizations,” chapter 5, p. 26Google Scholar.

31 The hypothesis can be tested by comparing countries equally developed economically but with different degrees of pluralism. An approximate method may serve as an illustration. Suppose that the countries of the Northwest are generally more pluralistic than the countries of Eastern Europe but about equally developed economically. Then the mean number of national representations in NGOs should be higher in the former region, which indeed it is:

In calculating the mean degree of economic development the mean for all countries in the world weighted by their population is zero. The average deviation is one. This tabulation also suggests that the size of population (presented in millions) may be a factor of importance, and it probably is in an intricate way.

32 A list of countries ranked according to the number of NGOs in which they are represented gives a good indication of this, but, after dividing by the size of their population, the tendency stands out much more clearly. The six countries that have most NGO representations per million inhabitants are: 1) Israel, 2) Norway, 3) Switzerland, 4) Denmark, 5) Finland, and 6) New Zealand. Countries with less than one million people have been excluded.

33 In addition, there may be many regional NGOs with members exclusively from nation-states that are in the process of forming a political union. The best example is the high number of business and professional groups within the EEC. I have reserved the term “local international organization” for bodies that intentionally limit their domain geographically but not in accordance with the borders of a prospective political union. The Mediterranean Social Sciences Research Council (MSSRC), for example, is a local NGO.

34 Most organizations in these fields were not only more “developed” in their membership composition but also more Western on the East-West political dimension; see Skjelsbaek, , “Peace and the Systems of International Organizations,” chapter 5, p. 20Google Scholar.

35 Only seventeen countries have gross national products greater than the annual output of General Motors Corporation; see Galloway, Jonathan F., “Worldwide Corporations and International Integration: The Case of INTELSAT,” International Organization, Summer 1970 (Vol. 24, No. 3), table 2, p. 511CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

36 I do not mean primarily “high politics.” Most of these organizations operate in other fields and their possible influence on “high politics” is mainly indirect but not, a priori, negligible.

37 Many of the ideas in this section are the result of several seminar discussions directed by Johan Galtung at the International Peace Research Institute.

38 Conversely, some IGOs may feel that NGOs are too afraid of losing their independence to be willing to participate in joint programs.

39 Galtung, Johan, “Non-Territorial Actors and the Problem of Peace” (Revision of a paper delivered at the World Order Models Conference, Northfield, Massachusetts, 06 18–24, 1969), pp. 2324Google Scholar. See also Modelski, G., “The Corporation in World Society,” The Year Book, of World Affairs, 1968 (London: Stevens & Sons [under the auspices of the London Institute of World Affairs], 1968), pp. 6479Google Scholar.

40 The second dimension may also be denoted as social justice or equality. It is included in the definition of peace because the lack of such qualities in the international system frequently has the same consequences as do wars—spiritual and physical destruction of human beings. Since 1945 more people have probably died from malnutrition and lack of medical care than in military battles. Since exploitation typically takes place in an egalitarian social structure, the net result is often referred to as structural violence. Revolutionaries are often willing to use personal or direct violence to end structural violence, while people that profit from such a structure may claim that they can prevent violence in the traditional sense of that term through their control of the system. The Pax Romana is the classic example of this kind of a situation. In my opinion nothing is gained by trading one kind of violence for another if the change does not result in fewer degraded and lost human lives. For a discussion of these problems see Schmid, Herman, “Peace Research and Politics,” Journal of Peace Research, 1968 (Vol. 5, No. 3), pp. 217232CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Galtung, Johan, “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research,” Journal of Peace Research, 1969 (Vol. 6, No. 3), pp. 167192CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Galtung, Johan and Høivik, Tord, “Structural and Direct Violence: A Note on Operationalization” (Oslo: International Peace Research Institute, 1970)Google Scholar. (Mimeographed.)

41 The “spillover” hypothesis has been seriously contested lately in a number of articles in the Journal of Common Market Studies. See, for example: Hoffmann, Stanley, “European Process at Atlantic Crosspurposes,” 02 1965 (Vol. 3, No. 2), pp. 85101Google Scholar; Kaiser, Karl, “The U.S. and the EEC in the Atlantic System: The Problem of Theory,” 06 1967 (Vol. 5, No. 4), pp. 388425Google Scholar; Ernst B. Haas, “The Uniting of Europe and the Uniting of Latin America,” ibid., pp. 315–343; Taylor, Paul, “The Concept of Community and the European Integration Process,” 12 1968 (Vol. 7, No. 2), pp. 83101Google Scholar; and Green, Andrew Wilson, “Review Article: Mitrany Reread with the Help of Haas and Sewell,” 09 1969 (Vol. 8, No. 1), pp. 5069Google Scholar.

42 Cf., Mitrany, David, A Working Peace System: An Argument for the Functional Development of International Organization (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1966)Google Scholar. When Mitrany introduced this kind of argument, he was thinking of functional IGOs. A counterargument is that such a world structure for many purposes will be ineffective and give rise to serious problems of coordination. Some states will be involved in some functional agencies while others will not and may even be supporting competing ones. Agencies in related functional fields may quarrel over the lines between their respective areas of responsibility.

43 The multilateral setting of international organizations forces national delegations to have direct and indirect contacts with representatives from countries they ordinarily avoid interaction with, but sometimes exclusions and withdrawals take place. Several attempts to exclude countries from IGOs are well known. My own data gives reason to believe that such cases are very rare in NGOs.

44 Europe was chosen because the continent is relatively homogeneous in terms of economic and technological development, the distances are short, and the East-West conflict is the only overriding, political conflict dimension. An extended discussion is found in Skjelsbaek, , “Peace and the Systems of International Organizations,” chapter 5, pp. 3134Google Scholar.

45 Kriesberg, Louis, “U.S. and U.S.S.R. Participation in International Non-Governmental Organizations,” in Social Processes in International Relations: A Reader, ed. Kriesberg, Louis (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1968), p. 479Google Scholar.

46 The comparisons were made by means of chi-squares calculated on the basis of matrices corresponding to the tabulation on p. 440. The difference between NGOs and IGOs in this respect is negligible. A very interesting general study of NGOs as a means of East-West interaction has been done by Smoker, Paul, ”A Preliminary Empirical Study of an International Integrative Subsystem,” International Associations, 11 1965 (17th Year, No. 11), pp. 638646Google Scholar.

47 On the other hand, in less developed regions there seems to be a closer coupling between general rank and amount of involvement in NGOs. The single best indicator of general rank, in my mind, is gross national product. However, the hypothesis about regional differences with regard to this relationship has not been carefully tested.