Michigan Journal of International Law Volume 18 Issue 2 1997 Two Centuries of Participation: NGOs and International Governance Steve Charnovitz Yale University Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjil Part of the International Law Commons, Legal History Commons, and the Organizations Law Commons Recommended Citation Steve Charnovitz, Two Centuries of Participation: NGOs and International Governance, 18 MICH. J. INT'L L. 183 (1997). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjil/vol18/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Michigan Journal of International Law at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Michigan Journal of International Law by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TWO CENTURIES OF PARTICIPATION: NGOS AND INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE Steve Charnovitz* INTRODUCTION ................................................. 184 Definitions ...... ...................... 185 International Personality .................................... 188 PART ONE: HISTORY OF NGO INVOLVEMENT .................... 189 I. EMERGENCE (1775-1918) .................................. 191 A. Organizingfor Influence ............................... 191 B. NGOs and Intergovernmental Conferences ............. 195 C. Promoting New InternationalRegimes .................. 198 D. Pre-League NGO Involvement ......................... 208 E. Private Sector Participation ........................... 211 F . Sum mary .............................................. 2 12 II. ENGAGEMENT (1919-34) ................................... 212 A. Paris Peace Conference ............................. 213 B. InternationalLabour Organization ..................... 216 C. League of Nations Activities ........................... 220 D. NGO Activity Outside the League ...................... 237 E. Sum mary .............................................. 245 III. DISENGAGEMENT (1935-44) ............................... 246 A. League of Nations Activities ........................... 246 B. NGO Activity Outside the League ...................... 247 C. Sum m ary .............................................. 249 IV. FORMALIZATION (I945-49) ................................ 249 A. Drafting the U.N. Charter ............................. 250 B. Implementing Article 71 ............................... 252 C. NGOs in Other U.N. Organizations .................... 253 D. NGO Activity Outside the United Nations ............... 256 E. Sum mary .............................................. 257 V. UNDERACHIEVEMENT (1950-71) ........................... 258 VI. INTENSIFICATION (1972-91) ............................... 261 * Director, Global Environment & Trade Study, Yale University. The author wishes to thank Fred Abbott, Hilary French, Robert D. Harrison, Paul Kahn, Hari Osofsky, W. Michael Reisman, Martha L. Schweitz, Dinah Shelton, Peter J. Spiro, A. Dan Tarlock, Detlev F. Vagts, David Wirth, and John Wickham for their helpful comments. Support for this research was provided by the Ford Foundation. Michigan Journal of InternationalLaw [Vol. 18:183 VII. EMPOWERMENT (1992-?) .................................. 265 PART Two: ANALYZING NGO PARTICIPATION ................ 268 I. CYCLICALITY OF NGO IMPACT ............................. 268 II. AIMS OF NGO INVOLVEMENT .............................. 271 III. NGO ROLE: BENEFITS & PROBLEMS ....................... 274 IV. SPAN OF NGO INVOLVEMENT .............................. 278 V. TECHNIQUES OF NGO INVOLVEMENT ...................... 280 V I. FUTURE PROSPECTS ........................................ 284 C ON CLU SIO N ................................................... 286 INTRODUCTION Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are expanding their partic- ipation in international governance.' This is especially true in environ- mental affairs where NGOs regularly take part in multilateral conferences and monitor the implementation of treaties.2 NGOs are also increasing I. The Growing Role of Nongovernmental Organizations, in 89 PROC. AM. SOC'Y INT'L L. 413-32 (1995); Paul Ghils, International Civil Society: International Non-governmental Organizations in the International System, 44 INT'L SOC. Sci. J. 417 (1992); Jessica T. Mathews, Power Shift, 76 FOREIGN AFF. 50 (Jan./Feb. 1997); A. Dan Tarlock, The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in the Development of InternationalEnvironmental Law, 68 CHI.-KENT L. REV. 61 (1993). 2. Philippe J. Sands, The Environment, Community, and International Law, 30 HARV. INT'L L.J. 393, 412-17 (1989); Barbara J. Bramble & Gareth Porter, Non-Governmental Organizationsand the Making of U.S. International Environmental Policy, in THE INTERNA- TIONAL POLITICS OF THE ENVIRONMENT 313-53 (Andrew Hurrell & Benedict Kingsbury eds., 1992); Nancy Lindborg, Nongovernmental Organizations:Their Past, Present, and Future Role in International Environmental Negotiations, in INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL TREATY MAKING 1-25 (Lawrence E. Susskind et al. eds., 1992); David Scott Rubinton, Toward a Recognition of the Rights of Non-States in International Environmental Law, 9 PACE ENVTL. L. REV. 475 (1992); CAROLINE THOMAS, THE ENVIRONMENT IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 15-18, 27-29, 63-70 (1992); Martha L. Schweitz, Indigenous Environmental NGOs and InternationalLaw: A Reconstruction of Roles and Possibilities,27 U. BRIT. COLUM. L. REV. 133 (1993); ENVIRONMENTAL NGOs IN WORLD POLITICS (Thomas Princen & Matthias Finger eds., 1994); LAWRENCE E. SUSSKIND, ENVIRONMENTAL DIPLOMACY 46-53 (1994); Wolfgang E. Burhenne, The Role of NGOs, in SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL LAW 207-11 (Winfried Lang ed., 1995); Jeffrey L. Dunoff, From Green to Global: Toward the Transformation of InternationalEnvironmental Law, 19 HARV. ENVTL. L. REV. 241, 295-300 (1995); Patricia Waak, Shaping a Sustainable Planet: The Role of Nongovernmental Organiza- tions, 6 COLO. J.INT'L ENVTL. L & POL'Y 345 (1995); James Cameron, Compliance, Citizens and NGOs, in IMPROVING COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW 29-47 (James Cameron et al. eds., 1996); Hilary French, The Role of Non-State Actors, in GREENING INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 251 (Jacob Werksman ed., 1996); Adil Najam, Nongovernmen- tal Organizations as Policy Entrepreneurs: In Pursuit of Sustainable Development (Yale PONPO Working Paper No. 231, 1996); GARETH PORTER & JANET WELSH BROWN, GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS 50-59 (George A. Lopez ed., Westview Press 2d ed. 1996); Kal Raustiala, States, NGOs, and International Environmental Regimes, 41 INT'L STUDIES Q. Winter 1997] Two Centuries of Participation their work in the World Bank3 and in human rights agencies.4 This growing role for NGOs in international law and policy is a significant development but not an unprecedented one. NGO influence on interna- tional governance increased in previous eras, most notably around the turn of the century and in the early years of the League of Nations.5 Although some observers seem to perceive NGO involvement as a late- twentieth-century phenomenon, in fact it has occurred for over 200 years. Advocates of a more extensive role for NGOs weaken their cause by ne- glecting this history because it shows a longtime custom of governmental interaction with NGOs in the making of international policy. This article explores the past and present role of NGOs in interna- tional governance. Part One reviews the history of NGO involvement, focusing on the period between 1775 and 1949.6 It shows how NGO activism helped to engender international organizations. Part Two exam- ines some key issues that arise from the expanding involvement of NGOs. It catalogs the pros and cons of an active NGO role, discusses various functions that NGOs fulfill, and lists ten techniques of NGO participation. Part Two also considers a hypothesis that NGO involve- ment is cyclical. Definitions What are NGOs? 7 NGOs are groups of individuals organized for the myriad of reasons that engage human imagination and aspiration. 8 They (No. 4, forthcoming 1997). 3. Seamus Cleary, The World Bank and NGOs, in "THE CONSCIENCE OF THE WORLD": THE INFLUENCE OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS IN THE UN SYSTEM 63 (Peter Willetts ed., 1996) [hereinafter THE CONSCIENCE OF THE WORLD]; PAUL J. NELSON, THE WORLD BANKAND NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (1995); Ibrahin F. I. Shihata, The World Bank and Non-Governmental Organizations,25 CORNELL INT'L L.J. 623 (1992). 4. Felice D. Gaer, Reality Check: Human Rights NGOs Confront Governments at the UN, in NGOs, THE UN, AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE 51 (Thomas G. Weiss & Leon Gordenker eds., 1996); Michael H. Posner & Candy Whittome, The Status of Human Rights NGOs, 25 COLUM. HUM. RTS. L. REV. 269 (1994); Kathryn Sikkink, Human Rights. Principled Issue-Networks, and Sovereignty in Latin America, 47 INT'L ORG. 411 (1993). 5. See PHILIP MARSHALL BROWN, INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY 120 (1923) (suggesting that the influence and results of societies that cut straight across frontiers are too profound to be properly estimated). 6. For many of the historical episodes discussed here, information is not available on the impact of the NGO role. In some instances, government policymakers might have reached the same outcome without any NGO involvement. Measuring the collective impact of NGOs de- cade by decade is beyond the scope of this article. 7. Other terms used in commentary about NGOs include "INGOs" for international non- governmental