Chapter 6:
NGOs, Indigenous, Ethno-national, and Religious organizations

Nongovernmental
Organizations

Private interest groups

Allow individuals to participate in global affairs

About 30,000 total

Often work with IGOs such as the UN

Challenge state sovereignty
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Trends in the Number of NGOs Since 1956
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Indigenous Ethnic Groups

Nonstate nations in the Fourth World

Ethnopolitical groups: Common nationality, language, cultural tradition, kinship ties

Form cultural domains that can cross national borders

Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, Syria

Clash of civilizations?
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4

The Indigenous Cultures of the World
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5

The World’s Major Civilizations:
Will Their Clash Create Global
Disorder?
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6

Religious Movements
(1 of 2)

Politically active organization based on strong religious convictions

Theocracy

Extreme militant religious movements
1.
They view existing government authority as corrupt and illegitimate because it is secular
2.
They attack the inability of government to address the domestic ills of the society
3.
They believe that government and all its domestic and foreign activities must be in the hands of believers
4.
They are universalists
5.
They are exclusionists
6.
They are militant
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Major Religions of the World
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8

Religious Movements
(2 of 2)

Militant religious movements tend to stimulate five specific types of international activities:
•
Irredentism
•
Secession or separative revolts
•
Migration
•
Diasporas
•
International terrorism
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9

Transnational
Terrorist Groups

Terrorism today very different from the past

More lethal

Waged by civilians

Technology

Postmodern terrorism

War in Lebanon and Hezbollah

Difficulty in defining terrorism
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Multinational Corporations

Primary agents of globalization of production

Foreign direct investment

Transnational banks

Reduce political borders

Distributed wealth unevenly

Impact domestic politics

Globally integrated enterprise

Strategic corporate alliances
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Transnational Advocacy
Networks (TANs)

Lobbying governments

Setting agendas

Providing services
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12

Issue-Advocacy and Global
Civil Society:
Can NGOs Transform World Politics?

NGOs as a democratic force

Networks of NGOs have contributed to the emergence of global civil society

Low politics

Single issue NGOs more influential

NGOs compete with one another to influence decision makers
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Questions for
Critical Thinking
(1 of 2)
1.
In what ways do IGOs and NGOs affect the structure of the international system?
2.
In what ways and in which issue areas could
NGOs conceivably be more effective than
IGOs?
3.
How do IGOs reinforce the divisions between the North and the South?
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Questions for
Critical Thinking
(2 of 2)
4.
What are the prospects that the UN will become a more powerful and more effective institution?
5.
In what ways do the WTO, World Bank, and
IMF affect the Global South?
6.
Could the EU replace the United States as the world’s hegemon?
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Web Links

United Nations

The World Trade Organization

International Monetary Fund

European Union
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
Catholic Church

Poland

Philippines

South Korea

Latin America
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
World Council of Churches

Human rights / Democracy in Korea

Nobel Committee,

Norwegian Nobel Committee (Peace Prize)

Doctors without borders

Green Peace

Amnesty International
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
International Olympics Committee

International Red Cross
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
Kennecott Copper

Alcoa Aluminum

Exxon-Mobile, BP, etc.

Monsanto Corp.

Citibank

Bank of America

Wal-Mart

Google

CNN
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