BÖLGESEL ÖRGÜTLER

The Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 did not restore throughout Europe but it paved the way for the national self-determination.

International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have become an integrated part of international politics where they play significant roles that fit their agenda.

Anne-Marie Slaughter (1997), too, believes that the world order is not the one that has long been depicted by the proponents of state-centric paradigm. Slaughter (1997: 183) draws attention to the failure of the international order based on the nation-states and the intergovernmental organizations and asserts that the routine proclamations of new world order by world leaders are in fact illusions since such attempts have for the most part referred to a system that relies on the proper functioning of nation-states.

Global governance is a movement towards political cooperation among transnational actors (states, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, etc.), aimed at negotiating responses to problems that affect more than one state or region.

Like other non-state actors, the NGOs have gained prominence after the end of World War II., a period where the UN was formed for a better-working web of global governance.

An NGO is not a political party, business organization, criminal group, and violent organization.

Under Article 70 of the UN Charter, the NGOs are recognized the following status: “The Economic and Social Council may make arrangements for representatives of the specialized agencies to participate, without vote, in its deliberations and in those of the commissions established by it, and for its representatives to participate in the deliberations of the specialized agencies.”

To ensure fair representation, 19 members of the Committee in the ECOSOC are elected.

Council of the European Union: another institution of the European Union that consists of ministers of the EU Member States who discuss and prepare EU legislation. Together with the European Parliament, it’s the main legislative body. It’s located in Brussels, Belgium.

‘Democratic deficit’ is a term used by people who argue that the EU institutions and their decision-making procedures suffer from a lack of democracy and seem inaccessible to the ordinary citizen due to their complexity. The real EU democratic deficit seems to be the absence of European politics. EU voters do not feel that they have an effective way to reject a ‘government’, they do not like, and to change, in some ways, the course of politics and policy.

Global governance is a movement towards political cooperation among transnational actors (states, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, etc.), aimed at negotiating responses to problems that affect more than one state or region.

The concept of high politics covers all matters that are vital to the very survival of the state: namely national and international security concerns

Customarily in the IR literature, the NGOs are considered part of what is called non-state segment of international players.

The UN, centerpiece of global governance, offers a limited legal status in form of accreditation for the INGOs. Some prerequisites for admission into this status, albeit not formally identified, might be underlined. In this respect, Peter Willetts (2001), an eminent scholar studying civil society actors, provides at least fifth principles in order for an INGO to qualify for the definition of the UN. First, an INGO needs to work in furtherance of the goals and objectives of the UN. Second, an INGO should allow fair representation by members, establish a headquarters, and employ officers. Third, an INGO should be a non-profit organization without engaging in business or corporate activities. Fourth, an INGO should declare it will not rely on any violent measure whatsoever to pursue its goals. Fifth, an INGO should not act in a way that could be interpreted as an interference with the internal affairs of states.

Under Article 70 of the UN Charter, the NGOs are recognized the following status: “The Economic and Social Council may make arrangements for representatives of the specialized agencies to participate, without vote, in its deliberations and in those of the commissions established by it, and for its representatives to participate in the deliberations of the specialized agencies.”

Participatory democracy is a process of collective decision making that combines elements from both direct and representative democracy: Citizens have the power to decide on policy proposals and politicians assume the role of policy implementation.

‘Democratic deficit’ is a term used by people who argue that the EU institutions and their decisionmaking procedures suffer from a lack of democracy and seem inaccessible to the ordinary citizen due to their complexity. The real EU democratic deficit seems to be the absence of European politics. EU voters do not feel that they have an effective way to reject a ‘government’, they do not like, and to change, in some ways, the course of politics and policy

General conviction in the literature suggests that the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the bipolar world order created greater opportunities for the INGOs for several reasons. First, in the absence of constant friction between two major poles in world politics, the players of international politics had more incentives towards international cooperation in favor of humanitarian action rather than interstate rivalries. Second, recognition of global and regional problems by the international community amplified the significance of the role that the INGOs may play to address these problems. Multilateral processes were thus viewed as proper avenues for the INGO involvement. Their growing presence in the UN-led initiatives was a direct result of this tendency. Third, the INGOs were able to exercise greater influence because of the inherent advantage associated with their features and characteristics. The INGOs may, by virtue of their small size and flexible administration, easily adapt themselves to the changing circumstances and avoid complex procedures mostly peculiar to bureaucracies of national governments.

Participatory status is a status for international NGOs that are represented at European level.

The UN, centerpiece of global governance, offers a limited legal status in form of accreditation for the INGOs. Some prerequisites for admission into this status, albeit not formally identified, might be underlined. In this respect, Peter Willetts (2001), an eminent scholar studying civil society actors, provides at least fifth principles in order for an INGO to qualify for the definition of the UN. First, an INGO needs to work in furtherance of the goals and objectives of the UN. Second, an INGO should allow fair representation by members, establish a headquarters, and employ officers. Third, an INGO should be a non-profit organization without engaging in business or corporate activities. Fourth, an INGO should declare it will not rely on any violent measure whatsoever to pursue its goals. Fifth, an INGO should not act in a way that could be interpreted as an interference with the internal affairs of states. Even this set of principles fall short to offer an overall definition of an NGO which is inherently diverse and vague. Some INGOs proclaim a broad mandate whereas others may confine themselves to a specific agenda and cause. While some maintain a presence in a vast geography, some others may prefer remaining local or regional. It all depends on how an INGO identifies itself, its orientation and its goals. Naturally, their audience, the type of problems they are addressing, their constituency as well as opportunities they are able to enjoy all have to impact upon the kind of INGO that emerges.For instance, the INGOs are more concerned about how to make a contribution to the making of international law whereas national or regional NGOs are often focused on local political issues. Likewise, third world NGOs may employ domestic government whereas NGOs in developed countries have a strict code by which they prohibit admission of members with government connections. Additionally, while most third world NGOs are dedicated to the resolution of the economic problems and pay greater attention to humanitarian issues, the NGOs in the developed world are more focused on civil and political rights, and, for instance, committed to fair trial. These NGOs address problems pertinent to a violation of fundamental human rights rather than the betterment of a certain community or group and believe “in a pluralist society functioning within a framework of rules impartially applied to protect individuals against state interference” (Steiner, 1981: 15-16). It should be noted that lack of governmental support for their activities and the huge diversity in terms of their orientation and structure does not necessarily mean that INGOs are weak or ineffective. To the contrary, thanks to their diverse nature and flexibility, the INGOs are better able to address normative issues including human rights violations and environmental degradation. Similarly, their independent and private status enables the INGOs to act free of political oversight by the state. More importantly, because they do not have to consider the possible impact of their action upon a certain foreign policy design, the NGOs are often able to concentrate on a certain agenda. The proceeding sections dwell upon the role of INGOs in the international and regional organizations.