Theorizing NGO Mediation in Global Governance

Abstract

This theoretical chapter summarizes how scholars in international relations and comparative politics have conceptualized the roles of NGOs in global governance and offers a new approach for studying NGO mediation. First, it surveys literatures on transnational advocacy networks, INGOs, and global governance institutions. Next, it introduces the concept of NGO mediation and incorporates insights from scholarship on regime type, state-society relations, and domestic social movements to enhance our insights into how NGOs mediate between domestic and global levels of governance. NGO mediation involves adapting and translating global governance norms and principles to domestic contexts. We identify three common mediation challenges and link these challenges to features of the domestic political context. Finally, the chapter previews the book’s argument and describes our research design.