NGOs' transnational advocacy networks

From 'Legitimacy' to 'Political Responsibility

Bibliographic Data

ID4263188
AuthorsAlan Hudson (0000-0002-1356-6439, The Open University, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume1
Issue4
Pages331-352
Publication date2001-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Networks (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1470-2266 • E-ISSN: 1471-0374
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1471-0374.00019
OpenAlexW2113653330
LanguageEN
Citations received58

NGOs that operate as part of transnational advocacy networks face a number of 'legitimacy challenges' concerning their rights to participate in the shaping of global governance. Outlining the legitimacy claims that development NGOs make, the article argues that 'legitimacy' is a socially constructed quality that may be ascribed to an NGO by actors and stakeholders with different viewpoints. NGOs operating transnationally link disparate communities and conceptions of legitimacy, and undermine the discourse and practice of sovereignty. Therefore such NGOs will find it difficult to be universally regarded as legitimate, especially by states that hold a sovereignty-based conception of legitimacy. However, relationships are the building blocks of networks, and efforts to improve them should not be abandoned simply because 'legitimacy' is too closely connected with sovereignty. In particular, NGOs ought to improve their relationships with the poor and marginalized communities whose interests they claim to promote. To this end, the concept of 'political responsibility' is suggested as a pragmatic approach to understanding power relations as they arise in transnational advocacy networks and campaigns

Business · Corporate governance · Face (sociological concept) · Global governance · Law and economics · Legitimacy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Sovereignty · Viewpoints · International Development and Aid · Law · Public Administration · Religion, Society, and Development · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development