NGO Influence in International Organizations: Information, Access and Exchange

Abstract

While there is broad consensus that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) sometimes succeed in influencing policy making within international organizations (IOs), there is much less agreement on the factors that make NGO lobbying effective. This article makes two contributions to this debate. First, the determinants of influence among NGOs active in different IOs, issue areas and policy phases are examined. The analysis builds on original survey data of more than 400 NGOs involved in five different IOs, complemented by elite interviews with IO and state officials. Secondly, the article advances a specific argument about how the strategic exchange of information and access between NGOs and IOs increases NGO influence in IOs. This argument, derived from theories of lobbying in American and European politics, is contrasted with three alternative explanations of NGO influence, privileging material resources, transnational networks and public opinion mobilization, and the broader implications of these results for research on NGOs in global governance are explored.

Advocacy Strategies in Global Governance: Inside versus Outside Lobbying

“…This finding suggests that NGOs expect inside lobbying to be more effective for political influence than outside lobbying, which is also the principal finding of research on the impact of alternative advocacy strategies (Grant, 2000;Tallberg et al, 2015).…”

“…It is an established finding in existing research, and a widespread perception among practitioners, that inside lobbying is more effective for political influence than outside lobbying (e.g., Grant, 2000;Tallberg et al 2015). If political influence was the only goal of NGOs in IOs, then inside strategies would likely dominate NGOs' lobbying efforts.…”

“…NGOs' strategy choice is an issue of intrinsic interest to research on advocacy and lobbying in International Relations (IR) and Comparative Politics (CP). Furthermore, as lobbying strategies are varyingly successful in influencing IO decision-making (Tallberg et al, 2015), and IOs are known to shape global political outcomes (Martin and Simmons 2012), questions about the patterns and causes of NGO strategies in global governance are of great importance both for researchers and practitioners.…”

The role of NGOs in negotiating the use of biodiversity in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction

“…For instance, a crucial role has been attributed to NGOs in building political consensus enabling an international ban on the use of land mines [28] and a global framework for forest management and the trading of timber [19], but decades of NGO efforts to reshape the World Bank's approach to development were considered unsuccessful [26]. The multitude of strategies used by NGOs to contribute to international policy processes includes directly participating in international forums and meetings, providing information and expertise, advocating their views through coalitions or direct and indirect lobbying as well as using the media to mobilize public opinion [15,21,32]. All of these strategies have the potential to contribute to the direction and content of international negotiations, and great scholarly interest therefore exists in identifying how and when such strategies are successful [31,8,32].…”

“…The multitude of strategies used by NGOs to contribute to international policy processes includes directly participating in international forums and meetings, providing information and expertise, advocating their views through coalitions or direct and indirect lobbying as well as using the media to mobilize public opinion [15,21,32]. All of these strategies have the potential to contribute to the direction and content of international negotiations, and great scholarly interest therefore exists in identifying how and when such strategies are successful [31,8,32]. In recent years, NGOs have been heavily involved in shaping the global development agenda, perhaps most notably in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [20].…”