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Civil Society and Democratically Accountable Global Governance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Jan Aart Scholte
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Abstract

This article explores the ways and extents that civil society associations can bring greater public accountability to global governance. The analysis first reviews the growth of civil society engagement of global governance. Second, the article elaborates four general ways that civil society associations have promoted increased accountability in global governance: by increasing the public transparency of global governance operations; by monitoring and reviewing global policies; by seeking redress for mistakes and harms attributable to global regulatory bodies; and by advancing the creation of formal accountability mechanisms for global governance. Third, the article identifies six broad circumstances that have affected (and often limited) the extent of civil society achievements with respect to accountability in global governance.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , 2004 , pp. 211 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 2004

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References

1 J. A. Scholte, ‘Global Civil Society’, in N. Woods (ed.), The Political Economy of Globalization, London, Macmillan, 2000, pp. 173–201; J. A. Scholte, ‘Civil Society and Governance in the Global Polity’, in M. Ougaard and R. A. Higgott (eds), Towards a Global Polity, London, Routledge, 2002, pp. 145–65; Scholte, J. A., ‘Civil Society and Democracy in Global Governance’, Global Governance, 8: 3 (2002), pp. 281–304.Google Scholar

2 R. J. O’Brien, A. M. Goetz, J. A. Scholte and M. A. Williams, Contesting Global Governance: Multilateral Economic Institutions and Global Social Movements, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000, ch. 5; J. A. Scholte, Civil Society Voices and the International Monetary Fund, Ottawa, North-South Institute, 2002; J. A. Scholte with A. Schnabel (eds), Civil Society and Global Finance, London, Routledge, 2002. See also J. A. Scholte, ‘The WTO and Civil Society’, in B. Hocking and S. McGuire (eds), Trade Politics: International, Domestic and Regional Perspectives, 2nd edn, London, Routledge, 2003, pp. 146–61.

3 J. A. Scholte, Democratizing the Global Economy: The Role of Civil Society, Coventry, Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, 2003.

4 Cf. J. L. Cohen and A. Arato, Civil Society and Political Theory, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 1992.

5 Cf. T. G. Weiss and L. Gordenker (eds), NGOs, the UN, and Global Governance, Boulder, CO, Rienner, 1996; P. Willetts (ed.), ‘Conscience of the World’: The Influence of Non-Governmental Organisations in the UN System, Washington, DC, Brookings Institution, 1996; J. A. Fox and L. D. Brown (eds), The Struggle for Accountability: The World Bank, NGOs and Grassroots Movements, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 1998; J. W. Foster with A. Anand (eds), Whose World Is It Anyway? Civil Society, the United Nations and the Multilateral Future, Ottawa, United Nations Association in Canada, 1999; O’Brien et al., Contesting Global Governance, op. cit.; A. M. Florini (ed.), The Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society, Washington, DC, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2000; M. Edwards and J. Gaventa (eds), Global Citizen Action, Boulder, CO, Rienner, 2001; Global Civil Society Yearbook, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001–3.

6 Cf. S. Cleary, A Handbook for Working with Civil Society, New York, United Nations Development Programme, 1996; United Nations General Assembly, ‘Arrangements and Practices for the Interaction of Non-Governmental Organizations in All Activities of the United Nations System. Report of the Secretary-General’, Doc. A/53/170, 10 July 1998; World Bank, Consultations with Civil Society Organizations: General Guidelines for World Bank Staff, Washington, DC, World Bank, 2000; IMF, ‘Guide for Staff Relations with Civil Society Organizations’, 2003 (at http://www.imf.org).

7 Author's communications with Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Executive Director of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development and Hans-Peter Werner, External Relations Officer of the WTO, June 2003.

8 UN News, 3 June 2003, at http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/int/un/access/2003/0604panel.htm.

9 See http://www.cpsr.org.

10 M. Chiriboga, ‘Latin American NGOs and the IFIs: The Quest for a South- Determined Agenda’, in Scholte with Schnabel, Civil Society and Global Finance, op. cit., pp. 35–6; author's interviews with civil society practitioners in Brazil, January 2002.

11 E. Smythe, ‘State Authority and Investment Security: Nonstate Actors and the Negotiation of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment at the OECD’, in R. A. Higgott et al. (eds), Nonstate Actors and Authority in the Global System, London, Routledge, 2000, pp. 74–90.

12 http://www.clubdeparis.org/en/index.ph.

13 http://www.socwatch.org.uy

14 http://www.saprin.org/

15 http://www.udn.or.ug/; author interviews in Uganda, November 2001 and August– September 2003.

16 http://www.globalforestwatch.org/.

17 http://www.grisnet.it/fib/tribu%20eng.html; ‘When People Judge: The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal’, Corporate Watch, 11 (Summer 2000).

18 L. Udall, ‘The World Bank and Public Accountability: Has Anything Changed?’, in Fox and Brown, The Struggle for Accountability, op. cit., pp. 391–436; S. Khagram, ‘Toward Democratic Governance for Sustainable Development: Transnational Civil Society Organizing around Big Dams’, in Florini, The Third Force, op. cit., pp. 83–114.

19 Fox and Brown, The Struggle for Accountability, op. cit.; A. Wood and C. Welch, Policing and Policemen: The Case for an Independent Evaluation Mechanism for the IMF, London and Washington, DC, Bretton Woods Project and Friends of the Earth–US, 1998.

20 Josephine Grey, Low Income Families Together, during a discussion with the author in Toronto, May 2002.

21 Zainab Wambedde, Mental Health Uganda, during a discussion with the author in Mbale, September 2003.

22 On civil society networks, see M. Keck and K. Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 1998; S. Khagram, J. V. Riker and K. Sikkink (eds), Restructuring World Politics: Transnational Social Movements, Networks, and Norms, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2002.

23 Discussion with Nduhukhire Owa Mataze, Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi, 3 September 2003.

24 Cf. M. Edwards, NGO Rights and Responsibilities: A New Deal for Global Governance, London, Foreign Policy Centre, 2000; L. D. Brown et al., ‘Civil Society Legitimacy: A Discussion Guide’, in L. D. Brown (ed.), Practice-Research Engagement and Civil Society in a Globalizing World, Cambridge, MA, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University, 2001, pp. 63–79; H. Slim, ‘By What Authority? The Legitimacy and Accountability of Non-Governmental Organisations’, paper for the International Meeting on Global Trends and Human Rights – Before and After September 11, Geneva, 10–12 January 2002; M. Edwards and A. Fowler (eds), The Earthscan Reader on NGO Management, London, Earthscan, 2002.

25 John Foster, North-South Institute, in discussion with the author in Ottawa, May 2002.

26 Perry Arituwa, Uganda Joint Christian Council, in discussion with the author in Kampala, August 2003.

27 L. Jordan, ‘The Importance of Rights to NGO Accountability’, draft paper, August 2003.

28 F. Dodds, ‘From the Corridors of Power to the Global Negotiating Table: The NGO Steering Committee of the Commission on Sustainable Development’, in Edwards and Gaventa, Global Citizen Action, op. cit., pp. 203–13.

29 http://www.ccic.ca.

30 http://www.pcnc.com.ph.

31 http://credibilityalliance.org/; presentation by Anil Singh of the Voluntary Action Network India at Sawarung/Ford Foundation conference on NGO accountability, Bandung, January 2003.

32 J. Chapman and A. Wameyo, ‘Monitoring and Evaluating Advocacy: A Scoping Study’, ActionAid, January 2001.

33 http://www.hapgeneva.org/.