Feminism: A social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations, and sexuality. Feminist political activism campaigns on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, sexual harassment, discrimination and sexual violence. Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression and patriarchy. The basis of feminist ideology is that rights, privilege, status, and obligations should not be determined by gender.
Foreign Direct Investment. Investment by firm based in one country in actual productive capacity or other real assets in another country, normally through creation of a subsidiary by a multinational corporation. Measure of globalization of capital. Effects on growth and inequality in developing countries disputed.
Fundamentalism: In comparative religion, fundamentalism has come to refer to several different understandings of religious thought and practice, including literal interpretations of sacred texts such as the Bible, the Quran, or the Vedas, and sometimes also anti-modernist movements in various religions. In popular usage, ‘fundamentalist’ refers to any fringe religious group and also to extremist ethnic movements with only nominally religious motivations. The term however, also has a more precise denotation: It denotes a movement to return to what are considered to be the defining or founding principles of the religion or practice. As such, the term is now also used to refer to political and political-economic practice, such as the implementation of Thatcherism in Britain in the 1980s.
In some ways religious fundamentalism is a comparatively modern phenomenon, characterised by a sense of embattled alienation in the midst of the surrounding culture and even where the culture may be nominally influenced by the adherents' religion. The term can also refer specifically to the belief that one's religious texts are infallible and historically accurate, despite contradiction of these claims by modern scholarship.
G7. Group of seven major economic powers (US, Japan, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Canada), engaged in regular consultation on financial stability and economic growth (occasionally G8 in deference to Russia; see University of Toronto G8 Information Centre)
G8: The Group of Eight (G8) consists of eight of the world's leading industrialised nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America). The hallmark of the G8 is an annual economic and political summit meeting of the heads of government with international officials discussing property rights, global warming, poverty, global economics, international politics, morality, and other issues. The G8 has its roots in the 1973 oil crisis and subsequent global recession. These troubles led the United States to first form a ‘Library Group’, a gathering of senior financial officials from the United States, Europe, and Japan, to discuss economic issues. In 1975, French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing invited the heads of state of six major industrialised democracies to a summit in Rambouillet, in France, and proposed regular meetings. The participants agreed to an annual meeting organ ised under a rotating presidency, forming what was dubbed the Group of Six (G6) consisting of France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. At the subsequent annual summit in Puerto Rico, it became the Group of Seven (G7) when Canada joined at the behest of US President Gerald Ford. Russia was invited to join the G7 after 1991, and the summit in Birmingham, UK, in 1998 of the group marked the formation of the G8.
Unofficially called the ‘world government’, the annual summits are often also the focus of protest by members of the Global Justice and Solidarity Movement, notably at the 27th G8 summit in Genoa in 2001. Critics assert that members of G8 are responsible for global issues such as global warming due to carbon dioxide emission, poverty in Africa and developing countries due to debt crisis and unfair trading policies, the AIDS problem due to strict medicine patent policies, and other problems that are directly related to globalisation.
G77: The Group of 77 at the United Nations is a loose coalition of developing nations designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations. There were 77 founding members of the organisation, but the organisation has since expanded to 133 member countries. The group was founded on June 15 1964 by the ‘Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Countries’ issued at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It grew out of the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) formed in 1955. The first major meeting was in Algiers in 1967, where the Charter of Algiers was adopted and the basis for permanent institutional structures was begun. There are Chapters of the Group of 77 in Rome (FAO), Vienna (UNIDO), Paris (UNESCO), Nairobi (UNEP), and the Group of 24 in Washington DC (IMF and World Bank).
Globalization : Globalization is a relatively new term used to describe a very old process. It is a historical process that began with our human ancestors moving out of Africa to spread all over the globe. In the millennia that have followed, distance has been largely overcome and human-made barriers lowered or removed to facilitate the exchange of goods and ideas. Propelled by the desire to improve one's life and helped along by technology, both the interconnectedness and interdependence have grown. This increasing integration of the world or 'globalization' has enriched life but also created new problems.
GNP (Gross National Product): The total value of final goods and services produced in a year by a country’s nationals (including profits from capital held abroad).
The rules that are followed to compute the GNP are as follows :
- ‘Final goods’ are goods that are ultimately consumed rather than used in the production of another good. For example, a car sold to a consumer is a final good; the components such as tyres sold to the car manufacturer are not; they are intermediate goods used to make the final goods. The same tyres, if sold to a consumer, would be a final good.
- Only final goods are included when measuring national income. If intermediate goods were included too, this would lead to double counting; for example, the value of the tyres would be counted once when they are sold to the car manufacturer, and again when the car is sold to the consumer.
- Only newly produced goods are counted. Transactions in existing goods, such as second-hand cars, are not included, as these do not involve the production of new goods.
- Income is counted as part of GNP according to who owns the factors of production rather than where the production takes place. For example, in the case of a German-owned car factory operating in the US, the profits from the factory would be counted as part of German GNP rather than US GNP because the capital used in production (the factory, machinery, etc) is German owned. The wages of the US workers would be part of US GNP, while the wages of any German workers on the site would be part of German GNP.
Hegemony: The cultural, ideological, and political dominance, in civil society, of a social class or group or bloc of social classes and groups.
Human Rights: Rights of persons to freedom of speech and conscience, equal treatment, work and health, among others, as defined in Universal Declaration adopted by UN in 1948, supplemented by 1960s Covenants on social, economic, political, and civil rights. Variously interpreted by states, hence subject of global debate.
IGO: Intergovernmental organization. Formed by and membership restricted to states. Examples: UN, NATO.
IMF (International Monetary Fund): Like its sister organisation the World Bank, the IMF was established in July 1945 by an international treaty called the Bretton Woods Treaty and made responsible by those taking part for managing the global financial system and for providing loans to its member states to help alleviate balance of payments problems. The IMF has become the central institution of the international monetary system—the system of international payments and exchange rates among national currencies that enables formal business to take place between countries. Its official objectives are to aim to prevent crises in the system by encouraging countries to adopt sound economic policies. It is also—as its name suggests—meant to be a fund that can be tapped by members needing temporary financing to address balance of payments problems. In return, the countries accepting IMF loans are obliged to launch certain ‘reforms’ such as privatisation of public enterprises. These reforms however, and the policies that the IMF demands of countries that receive its loans, have become major points of controversy and protest across the Third World because of the associated problems and resulting economic crises, and – especially - debt.
Imperialism: A policy and practice by nation-states of extending control or authority over foreign entities as a means of acquisition and/or maintenance of empires. This is either through direct territorial conquest or settlement, or through indirect methods of exerting control on the politics and/or economy of other countries. The term is often used to describe the policy of a nation's dominance over distant lands, regardless of whether the nation considers itself part of the empire. The ‘Age of Imperialism’ usually refers to the New Imperialism period starting from 1860, when major European states started colonising the other continents.
Imperialist globalisation: Marxist term for economic globalisation.
Internationalism: A political movement that grew out of a revulsion for the intense and brutal nationalism that led to World War II; which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation between nation-states for the benefit of all. Partisans of this movement, such as supporters of the World Federalist Movement, claim that nations should cooperate because their long-term mutual interests are of greater value than their own individual short-term needs. Internationalism is by nature opposed to ultra nationalism, jingoism, and national chauvinism as well as to strict economic globalisation, which deny the value of individual cultures and the differences that exist between societies. Internationalism presupposes the recognition of other nations as equal, in spite of all their differences, as well as a total respect of each other’s nationalism.
MNC, or multinational corporation, or transnational corporation (TNC): A corporation, or company, that spans multiple nations. These corporations are often very large, and have offices and/or factories in different countries. They usually have a centralised head office where they coordinate global management. Very large multinationals have budgets that exceed those of many countries. They are today seen as a major power in global politics. The first multinational appeared in 1602 and was the Dutch East India Company.
INGO: International nongovernmental organization. Members can be individuals, companies, or associations. Examples: Amnesty International, Red Cross, International Olympic Committee, International Organization for Standardization.
Indigenous Peoples: Groups held to be original residents of certain areas, especially nonliterate groups under threat of displacement due to development, now possessing globally recognized claims to autonomy and identity fostered by supportive movements.
Justice, or a condition thereof, is the ideal state of humanity: a morally-correct state of things and persons. Whether this ideal can ever be attained is an open question. According to most of the many theories of justice, it is overwhelmingly important: John Rawls, for instance, claims that "Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought." But, according to many theories, justice has not been achieved: "We do not live in a just world." Most people believe that injustice must be resisted and punished, and many social and political movements fight for justice worldwide. But the number and variety of theories of justice suggest that it is not clear what justice and the reality of injustice demand of us, because it is not clear what justice is. We are in the difficult position of thinking that justice is vital, but of not being certain how to distinguish justice from injustice in our characters, our institutions, our actions, or the world as a whole.
This problem of uncertainty about fundamentals has inspired philosophical reflection about justice, as about other topics. What exactly justice is, and what it demands of us, are among the oldest and most contested of questions. For example, the proper distribution of wealth in society — should it be equal? meritocratic? according to status? — has been fiercely debated for at least the last 2,500 years. Philosophers, political theorists, theologians, legal scholars and others have attempted to clarify the source, nature and demands of justice, with widely various results.
Kyoto Protocol (or ‘Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’): An international treaty on climate change; in actuality, an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Countries which ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases, or engage in emissions trading if they maintain or increase emissions of these gases.
The objective of the Kyoto Protocol is to cut global emissions of greenhouse gases; in technical terms, the “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”.
The treaty was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997, opened for signature on March 16 1998, and closed on March 15 1999. The agreement came into force on February 16, 2005 following ratification by Russia on November 18, 2004. As of April 2006, a total of 163 countries have ratified the agreement (representing over 61.6% of emissions from Annex I countries. Notable exceptions include the United States and Australia. Other countries, like India and China, which have ratified the protocol, are not required to reduce carbon emissions under the present agreement.
Mandal Commission: A body established by the government of India in 1979 to by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educationally backward" and to consider the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to redress caste discrimination. The Indian parliamentarian B P Mandal headed the commission.
In 1980, the Commission’s report affirmed the practice under Indian law whereby members of lower castes (Other Backward Classes, and Scheduled Castes and Tribes) were given exclusive access to a certain portion of government jobs and slots in public universities.
In 1989 the government of India led by Vishwanath Pratap Singh ordered implementation of the Commission’s report, which had lain unimplemented for nearly a decade. The report, its recommendations, and this order then became both a great source of controversy in India. On the one side, it was strenuously opposed by the middle and upper caste youth in the country, who saw it as an attack on their chance sin life, and on the other, it was also argued as a substantial source of empowerment for the lower castes to which it applied.
Its implementation and the controversy around it became the ultimate cause of India's Prime Minister V P Singh's resignation.
Masculinity: Traits or characteristics that are traditionally thought to be typical of or suitable for men. Most importantly, masculinity is not ‘natural’. Unlike the biological state of maleness, masculinity is a gender identity constructed socially, historically, and politically. It is the cultural interpretation of maleness, learnt through participation in society and its institutions.
Like femininity, masculinity operates politically at different levels. At one level, it is a form of identity, a means of self-understanding that structures personal attitudes and behaviours. At another, distinct but related level masculinity can be seen as a form of ideology, in that it presents a set of cultural ideals that define appropriate roles, values, and expectations for and of men.
Multinational Corporations (MNC): A multinational corporation or multinational enterprise (MNE) or transnational corporation (TNC) is a corporation or enterprise that manages production establishments or delivers services in at least two countries; but typically in many countries. Multinational corporations are often divided into three broad groups: Firstly, horizontally integrated multinational corporations managing production establishments located in different countries to produce same or similar products. Secondly, vertically integrated multinational corporations managing production establishment in certain country/countries to produce products that serve as input to its production establishments in other country/countries. Thirdly, diversified multinational corporations managing production establishments located in different countries that are neither horizontally nor vertically integrated.
Multinationals are playing a key role in neoliberal economic globalisation and are the main beneficiaries of economic reforms being introduced by the World Bank and the IMF, such as SAP, and have therefore often become the target of anti-globalisation protests. The vast majority of MNCs are US companies, so the US economy benefits most.
Given their international reach and mobility however, prospective countries, and sometimes regions within countries, must compete with each other to have MNCs locate their facilities (and subsequent tax revenue, employment, and economic activity) within. To compete, countries and regional political districts offer incentives to MNCs such as tax breaks, pledges of governmental assistance or improved infrastructure, or lax environmental and labour standards. This process of becoming more attractive to foreign investment can be characterised as a ‘race to the bottom’.
Very large multinationals have budgets that exceed those of many individual countries. They have a powerful influence in international relations, given their large economic influence in politicians' representative districts as well as their extensive financial resources available for public relations and political lobbying.
NAM/Non-Aligned Movement: Formed in 1961 on the initiative of Josip Broz Tito, then president of Yugoslavia, who brought together the states of the world which did not wish to align themselves with either of the Cold War superpowers. Important members included India (led by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru), Egypt (President Abdul Nasser), Indonesia (President Suharto), and, for a time, the People's Republic of China. (Brazil has never been a formal member of the movement.) On the one hand, NAM constituted a major and bold new concept in world politics, historically unprecedented, when seen in the historical context of colonialism that had dominated and oppressed most of the world till just the decade before, and was only just beginning to fade into the past; and in this sense, was a direct outcome of anti-colonial freedom struggles and their aspirations and a step towards another world. On the other, while the organisation was intended to be as close an alliance as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, it never had much cohesion and many of its members were induced, or unable to resist, aligning with one or another of the great powers.
NAM (Non-Aligned Movement): An international organisation of over 100 state-nations of the Third World that consider themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. NAM focuses on national struggles for independence, the eradication of poverty, economic development and opposing colonialism, imperialism, and neo-colonialism. They represent 55% of the planet's people and nearly two-thirds of the UN's members.
The NAM, founded in 1961, grew out of the Bandung Conference held in Indonesia in 1955.
Important NAM members include India, Egypt, South Africa, and, for a time, the People's Republic of China. Brazil has never been a formal member of the movement, but the country shares many of the aims of NAM and frequently sends observers to NAM summits. While the organisation was intended to be as close an alliance as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, it has little cohesion and many of its members were induced or unable to resist aligning with one or another of the great powers. For example, NAM member Cuba was closely aligned with the former Soviet Union during the Cold War era.
The term ‘non-alignment’ was coined by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during a speech in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1954. In this speech, Nehru described the five pillars to be used as a guide for Sino-Indian relations, which had first been put forth by the-then Chinese Premier Zhou En Lai. Called Panch Sheel (‘five pillars’), these principles would later serve as the basis of the Non-Aligned Movement. The five principles were:
1 Mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty
2 Mutual non-aggression
3 Mutual non-interference in domestic affairs
4 Equality and mutual benefit
5 Peaceful co-existence.
The origin of the non-aligned movement can be traced to the Bandung Conference held in Indonesia in 1955. At this Conference, the world's ‘non-aligned’ nations declared their desire not to become involved in the East-West ideological confrontation of the Cold War. Bandung marked a significant milestone for the development of NAM as a political movement.
It was only six years later however, in September 1961, and largely through the initiative of Josip Broz Tito, then-president of Yugoslavia, that the first official Non-Aligned Movement Summit was held. Aside from Tito and Nehru, the other prominent world leaders instrumental in getting NAM off the ground were Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Sukarno of Indonesia.
The Non-Aligned Movement has struggled to find relevance since the end of the Cold War in the early 90s. Yugoslavia, a founding member, has expressed little interest in the NAM since the country's break-up, and in 2004, Slovenia, along with Malta and Cyprus, ceased to be a member of the NAM when it joined the European Union. Malta and Cyprus presently have the status of observer. In some ways, it could be said in the post Cold War period, NAM has evolved into the G77, a collective of nation-states of the South that have come together at the UN and the WTO to represent and fight for their common interests on the world stage.
NAPM (National Alliance of People’s Movements): An all-India alliance of social and popular movements in India. Among the prominent constituents of the NAPM are:
- NBA (Narmada Bachao Andolan – ‘Save the Narmada Movement’)
- Azadi Bachao Andolan (‘Movement to Save Independence’, working against MNCs)
- Samajwadi Jan Parishad, a political party.
NAPM’s structure is a team of 15 national conveners to represent the movements that meets once in three months to discuss actions and future plans. There is one national meeting each year where all the constituent organisations and activists meet to discuss current activities and future programmes. The broad ideology of the NAPM is Gandhian-socialist. Its working style is quite flexible. The NAPM has made it clear so far that it will not be part of electoral politics. The constituent organisations / movements mostly work independently but come together during struggles. It is a flexible structure where the different groups maintain their identity but seek each other's strength during various movements. For the Enron struggle, they all came together to make a national impact.
Nationalism: An ideology that holds that the nation, ethnicity, or national identity is a ‘fundamental unit’ of human social life, and makes certain cultural and political claims based upon that belief; in particular, the claim that the nation is ‘the only legitimate basis for the state’, and that ‘each nation is entitled to its own state’. Nationalism should nevertheless be distinguished from patriotism, since the former focuses on the national community that is situated, for the most part, within civil society while the latter stresses instead the civic or political community, that which is expressed by a state or government. Nationalism also refers to the specific ideologies of various nationalist movements, which make cultural and political claims on behalf of specific nations.
Nation-state: A nation-state is a specific form of state (a political entity), which exists to provide a sovereign territory for a particular nation (a cultural entity), and which derives its legitimacy from that function. The compact Oxford English Dictionary defines it as: “A sovereign state of which most of the citizens or subjects are united also by factors which define a nation, such as language or common descent.” Typically, a nation-state is a unitary state with a single system of law and government. It is by definition a sovereign state, meaning that in theory there is no external authority above the state itself.
The political reality of the neoliberal globalisation that is prevalent in the world today however, is that the concept of sovereignty is deeply challenged and that most nation-states, and especially in the South, are – even if technically sovereign - answerable to and dependent on, in one way or another, international regimes and institutions such as the WTO, the World Bank, and the IMF, and also to the dictates of the US as the current world hegemonic power. This in turn is widely fuelling deeply nationalistic, and in places fundamentalist, reactions, both in the South and the North.
Neocolonialism: A term used to describe certain economic operations at the international level that have alleged similarities to the better-known, traditional colonialism of the 16th to the 19th centuries. The contention is that governments have always aimed to control other nations through indirect means; and that in lieu of the traditional, direct military-political control, neocolonialist powers employ economic, financial, and trade policies to dominate less powerful countries. Those who subscribe to the concept maintain this amounts to a de facto control over targeted nations.
Neoconservatism: The term refers to the political movement, ideology, and public policy goals of ‘new conservatives’, especially in the United States, who are mainly characterised by their relatively interventionist and hawkish views on foreign policy and their lack of support for the ‘small government’ principles and restrictions on social spending, when compared with other US conservatives such as traditional conservatives. Neoconservatives are also referred to by others as ‘neocons’. In the context of US foreign policy, the term ‘neoconservative’ has another, narrower definition: One who advocates the use of military force, unilaterally if necessary, to replace autocratic regimes with democratic ones. This view competes with liberal internationalism, realism, and non-interventionism.
The prefix ‘neo’ refers to the comparatively recent emergence of a ‘new wave’ of conservative thought and to a ‘rediscovery’ of conservative principles which have however then been more imitated in form rather than substance, It also serves to distinguish the ideology from the viewpoints of ‘old’ or traditional American conservatism. It is also used by some to denote that many of the movement’s founders, originally liberals or from socialist backgrounds, were new to conservatism.
Neo-liberalism: A political philosophy and a political-economic movement that emerged in the 1970s, and grew more prominent since 1980, which de-emphasises, or rejects, government intervention in the economy. Instead, it focuses on achieving progress and even social justice by free-market methods, especially through an emphasis on economic growth, as measured by changes in so-called ‘real gross domestic product’. This is the philosophy that underpins and drives the current phase of economic globalisation (therefore also known as ‘neo-liberal globalisation’). The four pillars of this philosophy involve liberalisation (or the reduction of rules and restrictions): capital account liberalisation, trade liberalisation, domestic liberalisation, and privatisation.
New International Economic Order (NIEO): Two closely related terms, the ‘New International Economic Order’ and the ’New International Information Order’, popular in the United Nations and its specialised agencies (especially UNESCO) in the 1970s and 1980s. Used mainly by developing country groups (for example NAM and the G-77) to refer to the redistribution of wealth on a global scale and to the international control of the media, the latter to stop distorted reporting of developments in Third World countries and to develop independent, South-based media. Western countries attacked these initiatives as attempts to destroy the free market and freedom of speech and threatened to withdraw from United Nations bodies, after which the programmes faded.
New Social Movement (NSM): The term refers to the plethora of social movements that have come up in various societies, initially (in the mid-1960s) especially in the North but more recently also in the South, and which have departed significantly from the conventional paradigm of social movements. In particular, traditional social movements, such as the labour movement, had centred on economic concerns. The new movements include the women’s movement, the human rights movement, the ecology movement, various peace movements, and others. NSM theorists have argued that many of these NSMs tend to emphasise changes in lifestyle and culture rather than pushing for changes in public policy or in areas of economic or social structure. They also argue that the key actors in these movements tend to be members of the ‘new middle class’ or service-sector professionals (such as academics). Some have also related the emergence of these new movements with the post materialism hypothesis as put forth by Ronald Inglehart and others. Other sociologists who have contributed in this field include Alain Tourraine, Claus Offe, Jürgen Habermas, Jean Cohen, and Sidney Tarrow. But the actual reality of social movements across the world has now dramatically exploded, encompassing also the political, and requires constant further and new theorisation.
New World Order: The phrase first used by Woodrow Wilson in the period just after World War I (1914-1918), during the formation of the League of Nations. It has subsequently come to have different meanings. In the South the term is associated with the New International Economic Order, and in the North to refer to post-Cold War conditions and to represent a dramatic change in world political thought and balance of power. See also Wilsonian World Order.
NGO / Non-governmental organisation: Technically, an organisation that is not part of a government and was not founded by a state, in other words a civil organisation; though in reality, many governments also float and form NGOs, for tactical reasons, often with government servants as the office-bearers. NGOs are therefore in theory independent of governments – but equally, many NGOs apply for and accept funds from the state, usually with conditions attached. Although the definition can technically include for-profit corporations, the term is generally restricted to social, cultural, legal, and environmental advocacy groups having goals that are primarily non-commercial and non-profit. NGOs are therefore usually non-profit organisations that gain at least a portion of their funding from private sources.
Current usage of the term is also today associated with the United Nations, and where some say that ‘authentic NGOs’ are those that are so designated by the UN – but on the other hand, where the number of NGOs accredited to the UN is a miniscule number of the total number of such organisations in the world, and generally restricted to elite, metropolitan organisations.
Because the label ‘NGO’ is considered too broad by some, as it might cover anything that is non-governmental, some NGOs in some countries now prefer the term ‘private voluntary organisation’ (PVO). Till the forced ‘liberalisation’ and ‘globalisation’ of India in the 1990s, the most common term for civil organisations in India was ‘voluntary organisation’, where voluntary work has a long tradition in the country, but where a good proportion of the wave of so-called ‘voluntary organisations’ that got established from the 1970s had salaried workers, and from the 1990s, became increasingly professionalised; and the ‘voluntary’ aspect declined.
Aside from local and national NGOS, a 1995 UN report on global governance estimated that there are nearly 29,000 international NGOs. National numbers are even higher: The United States has an estimated 2 million NGOs, most of them formed in the past 30 years. Russia now has 65,000 NGOs; India has 1.5-2.0 million.
Ngo-isation: A term expressing a growing criticism of the cultural-political influence that NGOs (non-governmental organisations), and as well their lionisation since the 1990s by bilateral aid agencies, the World Bank, and the UN as being key actors in ‘civil society’ (and by implication, of their culture of working), are having on other spheres of socio-political life, especially social and political movements, trade unions, alliances, and coalitions, and also broader platforms such as the World Social Forum.
This critique arises from various points of view: (i) The fact that interventions made by NGOs often tend to be short-lived and where this therefore comes into conflict with the input made by other actors involved in joint processes – such as campaigns, where long-term input is often required. The short life input may have to do with the NGOs’ funding patterns, or shifting priorities because they tend to be programme-based, both of which in turn have to do with the fact that many NGOs are today financed by aid organisations and are therefore subject to the conditionalities of that aid. (ii) The fact that many NGOs, and especially the bigger ones, are supported by big aid and development agencies that are in turn funded by Northern governments, the World Bank, the United Nations, and / or multinational corporations – and so are often subject to ‘internal’ pressures that limit what they can do and positions they can take, on social and political issues. (iii) The fact that NGOs, and especially the bigger ones, come into issues with far larger resources than non-funded organisations – and therefore often end up taking over key functions (such as campaign secretariats) even while being subject to their internal pulls – and thereby retarding the processes at very fundamental levels. And (iv), the fact that NGOs are often, by their constitutions, social and class composition, and ways of working, ‘professional’ organisations with very defined, corporate ways of working and decision-making – and given the key roles they often end up playing, their culture tends to end up influencing how others work as well.
Finally, a classical Marxist critique is that NGOs give the impression that they are filling a vacuum created by a retreating state, whereas their real contribution is that they defuse political anger and dole out as aid or benevolence what people ought to have by right; and that in the long run, NGOs are accountable to their funders, not to the people they work among.
These critiques are not true however of all NGOs, and this is in fact also partly a definitional problem, where the term ‘NGOs’ has come to be used to describe all kinds of voluntary, non-profit work. On the one hand, there are many grassroot organisations that are also called ‘NGOs’ under UN and World Bank categorisation but that have devised transparent and accountable ways of working and of building their credibility in the communities with which they work; and/or accept resources only from organisations that have sympathetic social and political goals, and therefore do not face these pressures. On the other, there are many new organisations that are today taking shape that are technically ‘non-governmental organisations’ in the broadest sense but that are organising themselves and their resourcing in entirely new ways. The criticism of ‘ngo-isation’ therefore tends unfortunately to tar all such initiatives, and thereby needs to be more nuanced; and more basically, a wider and more careful terminology is required.