The Rise of International Nongovernmental Organizations: A Top-Down or Bottom-Up Explanation?

Abstract

This study examines the conditions that facilitate the growth of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) in 126 countries, from 1982 to 2000. To explain the uneven growth of INGOs around the world, I test two competing theoretical approaches. The ''top-down'' perspective of growth focuses on the degree of a country's integration into the world polity and international economy. The ''bottom-up'' perspective emphasizes the development of democracy and the prosperity of the domestic economy as significant factors in facilitating INGO growth within a given country. An econometric analysis of panel data with ordinary least squares (OLS) suggests that both economic and political factors at the global and national level explain the rise of INGOs, rather than viewing either in an isolated fashion.Résumé Cette étude examine les conditions qui facilitent le développement des organisations internationales non gouvernementales (OING) dans 126 pays, de 1982 à 2000. Afin d'expliquer la croissance inégale des OING à travers le monde, j'utilise à titre expérimental deux approches théoriques concurrentes. L'approche dite « descendante » de la croissance met l'accent sur le degré d'intégration du pays dans le système institutionnel mondial et l'économie internationale. L'approche dite « ascendante » souligne le développement de la démocratie et la prospérité de l'économie nationale en tant que facteurs essentiels facilitant l'essor des OING dans un pays donné. Il ressort de l'analyse économétrique des données de panel réalisée avec la méthode des moindres carrés (MMC) que des facteurs à la fois économiques et politiques aux niveaux national et mondial, plutôt que de les étudier séparément, viennent expliquer le développement des OING.

The Governance of International Nongovernmental Organizations: How Funding and Volunteer Involvement Affect Board Nomination Modes and Stakeholder Representation in International Nongovernmental Organizations

“…With some 1,000 INGOs, amongst them some of the most well-known and oldest worldwide (about 15% of all registered INGOs), e.g., the International Committee of the Red Cross or the World Wide Fund for Nature, Switzerland hosts a remarkably high number of INGOs in relation to its population size according to data from the Union of International Associations (Lee 2010;Smith and Wiest 2005;UIA 2010). Kriesi et al (1995) find in a comparative study of Western European countries that Switzerland has by far the highest level of social mobilization.…”

The Non-profit Sector in Russia in the Global Economy View

“…In the US alone there were 1,505 INGOs in 1990 and 6,134 in 2000. It's an astonishing growth exceeding four hundred percent [20].…”

Wealth and the democratization of Global Economic Governance

“…For instance, Smith and Wiest (2005), consider ODA as a possible determinant of cross-country differences in their representation in global interest communities, considering ODA inflows as a measure of a country's ties to the global economy, and finding that aid has a limited positive effect on proliferation of global advocacy. However, Lee (2010) who equally investigates how foreign aid affects the proliferation of global advocacy, does not find any significant statistical effect. In addition to being characterized by mixed results, existing research misses a significant amount of potentially relevant observations because of the way in which the dependent variable, i.e.…”

“…Foreign aid represents an important element in determining low-income countries' ability to develop economically and politically (Goldsmith 2001). Foreign aid, particularly from political entities such as the EU and the US, explicitly aims to promote the development of civil society and civic organizations, leading to the creation of thousands of interest groups with a global scope of action (Lee 2010;Ottaway and Cartohers 2001). This means that foreign actors, be they international organizations, single donor governments, civil society organizations, or any other type of actor engaging in such activities, can significantly modify the material resources that non-state actors operating in LDCs (and low-income?)…”