Non-Governmental Organisations as Major Political Actors in the Global South - Literature review Example

Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of Non-Governmental Organisations as major political actors in the Global South The term Global South has been applied to refer to the countries of the world that lies on the Southern Hemisphere, most of which are not as developed as those found on the Northern hemisphere, comprising of 157 out of the 184 globally recognized states (Duhu, 2005:54). Therefore, this term comprehensively comprise of countries most in Latin America, Africa and Asia, whose human development index has been categorized to be under 8, while the human development index for the most developed countries that lie in the Northern hemisphere have been categorized to be 8 and above. This categorization serves to indicate that the countries constituting the Global South are mostly developing and underdeveloped, explaining why the NGOS have a great role to play in enhancing the development agenda of the countries, on the economic, political and the social-cultural front. The countries under the Global South category face numerous challenges and at the same time, they have more opportunities for advancement (Turner & Hulme, 1997:102). Most countries in the Global South are characterized by political, economic and social-cultural upheavals as the major challenges that the countries have to contend with (Archer, 1992:27). On the other hand, the large population within these countries, coupled with the emerging market trends offer promising opportunities for the nations to advance economically, while offering further opportunities for investment from the rest of the world, and the consequent social contribution of the people towards the prosperity of these nations. In this respect, the Non-Governmental Organizations have been playing major roles in helping the Global South overcome the political, social and economic challenges it faces, while assisting it to explore and exploit the available opportunities, which can enable the Global South advance politically, socially and economically, and thus join the ranks of the developed Global North (Hulme, 2001:133). Nevertheless, while playing this important role, the overindulgence of the NGOs in the global South has been associated with major advantages and disadvantages. First, one of the major advantages associated with NGOS as major political actors in the Global South is that they have immensely participated in the establishment of political infrastructure and environment that is suitable for human rights and human freedoms to thrive (Bennet, 1988:36). NGOs have been actively involved in the democratization process of some countries in the Global south, through the formulation of the ideal civil society ideals, and using the NGOS infrastructure as the platform through which to lobby the government in these countries to effect the necessary changes that would allow both the citizenry and the civil societies within these countries have a democratic space (Taylor, 1984:77). Human rights abuses have characterized the political situation of most of the countries in the Global South, especially in Africa and Asia, thus prompting the NGOs to get actively involved in policy formulations and advocacy that would see such nations abolish political frameworks that are intolerant to human rights and human freedoms. To achieve this, the NGOs have always partnered with the international community organizations, both political and the non-political, which support human rights and human freedoms as fundamentals for human development (Keohane, 1989:48). Thus, the NGOS have been able to enlist the participation of the international community through funding as well as through the establishment of sanctions towards the countries in the Global South that emerge as resistant to the process of opening up to the human rights and freedoms of their citizenry. Consequently, there have been numerous political and economic sanctions that have been issued towards countries that have failed to adapt the democratization process, while also enlisting the help of the international community in reducing or completely abolishing any form of assistance to those countries in form of donation and grants which forms a major part of such countries budgets. This way, the Global South has been made a better place both politically and socially, through the works of the NGOs, which have ensured that such countries are adhering to the standard ideals of fundamental human rights and freedoms (Duhu, 2005:59). The major strength that has been applied by the NGOS towards the realisation of the democratization and adoption of the human rights and civil society ideals in the Global South is their institutional neutrality and political independence (Mitlin, Hickey &Bebbington, 2005:82). This way, it has been possible for the NGOS to enlist the support of both the political and the non-political actors in both the international and the domestic fronts. The NGOS have used this support and reinforcement as the platform to advocate for the necessary political and social policy changes within the Global South, thus effectively enabling the countries in the Global South to adopt democratic and civil society ideals that are favourable for the thriving of the human rights and the human freedoms. The other advantage associated with the NGOS as major political actors in the Global South is the provision of an alternative channel for political participation by the people in the countries within the Global South (Fowler, 2000:44). Most of the countries within the Global South have been associated with stifling the democratic process that allows for people participation, and instead replacing the same with dictatorship that does not provide the citizenry or the civil societies with an opportunity to participate effectively in the political policy formulation process. Most NGOS have well endowed structures that are able to reach even the poorest communities in the world, and they are able to penetrate until the deepest point of the rural villages where it is difficult even for the government machinery to reach (Grieves, 1979:61). This way, the NGOS are able to establish a system of cooperation with the people from the grassroots, and through this process, they are able to act as the voice of those people on the national stage, through presenting the needs of such people to the governments of the countries by calling for actions to address their needs. There are various countries in the Global South, especially a few in the African continent, where democracy has been stifled completely, and the fundamental basic human rights denied to the people. In this respect, the NGOS have played the vital role of assessing the situations and the needs of such people, and then presenting such needs in the form of policy frameworks for the governments to act upon. Therefore, through gathering, refining and presenting the needs of the people to the government, where the people may not have any other channel of communicating to the government, the NGOs have helped in establishing a more accountable, transparent and participatory political system in the Global South (Stopford & Strange, 1991:72). The major benefit associated with the political mediation role played by the NGOS is that; they fill in the gaps that have been created by the political structure of the countries in the Global South, where some sections of the population have been overlooked by the governments’ structure. Ethnic conflicts and mass displacements of ethnic population has been a major occurrence in some countries within the Global South, where democracy has not been given enough room to thrive (Rosenau, 1990:95). Therefore, such countries have been characterized by inter-ethnic clashes and wars, as well as horrific genocides in some circumstances, where the ethnic communities that may not be obtaining the support of the ruling regimes are murdered in large numbers, as happened in the Rwanda genocide, where millions of people from two different communities were killed over inter-ethnic clashes. The same genocide conflicts have been replicated elsewhere in the Global South, such that it has become increasingly difficult for the international political actors to intervene, due to the established political structures that are resistant to the political pressures, such as the Darfur conflict that has been categorized as one of the worst genocide conflict of the 21st century, yet he global political actors have not been able to intervene effectively. Thus, with such gaps being left where the global political actors are not able to intervene appropriately in the political conflicts happening in the Global South, the NGOs have stepped up and taken the responsibility of filing in the gap (Archer, 1992:12). Under such circumstances, the NGOs are even forced to collaborate with the government, for the sake of penetrating and resolving the conflicts where the other political actors cannot penetrate, owing to the established government structures that may hinder any external political intervention (Rosenau, 1990:49). As a matter of fact, there are certain situations where the global political actors have not been able to intervene in the political conflict in some countries within the Global South, and the role has completely been left to the NGOs, such as in the recent Syria and the Afghanistan conflicts, where the international political actors have been left unwilling or unable to intervene, thus leaving that responsibility on the hands of the NGOS, which never tire in intervening and making the voices of the people heard. Worse still, there are some countries within the Global South where the voice of the people has completely been silenced, through the establishment of measures such as banning street protests or any participation in strikes, picketing or demonstrations (Turner & Hulme, 1997:107). This leaves the people with no other alternative for making their voices heard, other than the NGOs which have often stepped up boldly and made the people participate in the political policy and intervention framework formulation, through stepping up and acting as the mouth piece of the people. The NGOs have been advantageous as major political actors in the Global South, by acting as the custodians and principal monitors of the human rights, through issuing warnings whenever it is apparent that human rights are being violated in the countries (Hulme, 2001:138). Through the NGOs intervention, some minorities within the Global South that had previously been marginalized and discriminated have been allowed to participate in the political process. This has been achieved through the people gaining the rights to vote and the rights for representation in the social and political institutions within the countries, such as parliament and the judiciary (Fowler, 2000:93). In addition to issuing warning, the NGOs have been actively involved in mobilizing people on the grassroots to push for the necessary political reforms under circumstances where the governments and the political actors have refused to listen to the petitions of the people for their rights and freedoms that have been denied by the governments. This way, the NGOs have been able to establish and strengthen the communication links between the people and the governments, by acting as the mediators in lobbying and mobilizing the people (Keohane, 1989:39). This way, the NGOs have been able to realize revolutionary changes in the political structures of the countries in the Global South. Nevertheless, the major disadvantage associated with NGOS as major political actors in the Global South, is the problem of legitimacy and the accountability, where some NGOs purely acts as influential entities on the politics of the countries within the Global South, without even having a common touch with the people that they claim to represent (Stopford & Strange, 1991:51). In this case, some NGOs have emerged as illegitimate and unaccountable political entities supported by the political antagonists of the countries in the Global South, so they can push and advocate for some political changes in those countries, which are not necessarily aimed at helping the citizenry, but rather to influence and shape the politics of such countries in such a way that they will reflect the desired structure of the antagonist political actors (Rosenau, 1990: 43). Many NGOs have been accused of being funded by other global actors to influence the political policy formulation process of the target countries, so that they can open opportunities for the political actors to eventually enter into the political scenes of the targeted countries, and influence those countries politically (Rosenau, 1990:47). Thus, while the NGOs are doing a really good job in helping the citizenry of the countries within the Global South to overcome the major politician and social challenges they face, while also giving them a channel of participation in the political process of their countries, they have been associated with being tools for influencing the political structures of such countries negatively. The other disadvantage associated with the NGOs as major political actors in the Global South is that they have brought about political and social fragmentation in these countries, thus undermining the course of democracy and unity within the countries in the Global South. NGOs have played an increasingly significant role in shaping the political frameworks of the countries within the Global South, through funding and supporting the poor and needy communities within the countries to alleviate the poverty and the shortage of the basic and essential amenities that such communities face (Mitlin, Hickey &Bebbington, 2005:86). However, while doing this, some NGOS have sought to introduce new community and societal infrastructure and structural changes, which have often conflicted with the already established governmental structures. This way, the NGOs have participated in fragmenting the society from the already established unified government structure into different other societal fragments, which eventually pose the threat of instability to the political and social unification of the society (Grieves, 1979:57). Thus, the NGOs have been accused of wanting to change the society even where they do not understand it, considering that most of the NGOS operating as political actors in the Global South are foreign-based institutions, which gain entry into the countries within the Global South with the theme of making the society better. Despite this noble intention, the attempt to introduce new social, political and cultural changes that may not be consistent with the local structures often cause a conflict between the already established structures and the newly established ones, thus jeopardizing the sustainability and the stability of the society they seek to assist (Stopford & Strange, 1991:32). Another disadvantage associated with the NGOs as major political actors in the Global South is the problem of social inequality that is often created by the participation of the NGOs in the politics of the countries within the Global South. Inequality is a major political problem, since it affects the way resource distribution policy within a country is formulated (Duhu, 2005:55). Nevertheless, some NGOs operating in the Global South have been associated with concentrating with certain areas, regions or certain aspects of the society where they duplicate roles by providing infrastructure and other assistance in those areas while completely neglecting other regions or other aspects of the society they seek to serve. The problem with the created inequality is that; it results in the risk of destabilizing the society, where some sections of the society feel left out of the development agenda, and thus seek to assert their needs through other political means such as cessation moves which can eventually destabilize the society or the country (Taylor, 1984:118). The focus on certain sections of the society or some aspects that need to be addressed is a major political problems, which has also been created by the illegitimate and the unaccountable NGOs, which may have a different political agenda while entering a country, and remains the most popular tool that has been applied by the political antagonists of a country, to fragment a society and eventually cause instability (Bennet, 1988:22). References Archer, C. (1992) International Organizations. Second Edition. London: Routledge. Bennet, A.L. (1988) International Organizations. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. Duhu, J. (2005). 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(1984) Nonstate Actors in International Politics: From transregional to Substate Organizations. Boulder: Westview Press. Turner, M., & Hulme, D. (1997). Governance, Administration and Development: Making the State Work. Palgrave. Read More