Transnational Actor Participation in International Institutions: Where, Why, and with What Consequences?

Abstract

The nature of global governance is changing, as are the standards by which we judge its legitimacy. While international institutions were long the exclusive preserve of national governments, the past decades have witnessed a gradual and partial shift from interstate cooperation to more complex forms of governance, involving participation by transnational actors, such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), advocacy networks, party associations, and multinational corporations. Increasingly, states and international institutions are engaging transnational actors as policy experts, service providers, compliance watchdogs and stakeholder representatives. The World Bank, for instance, draws on the expertise of NGOs in the formulation of country reports, engages in operational collaboration with civil society actors in the field, and conducts policy dialogue through the NGO-World Bank Committee. Whereas only 21 percent of all World Bank funded projects involved civil society participation in 1990, this figure had risen to 72 percent in 2006 (World Bank, 2009). The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) provides another example, engaging transnational actors by offering NGOs accreditation to its meetings, operating a Global Civil Society Forum, and drawing on civil society in the implementation of its programs.