WORLD CULTURE IN THE WORLD POLITY - A CENTURY OF INTERNATIONAL NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION

We analyze the growth of international non-governmental organizations between 1875 and 1973 using a data set on almost 6,000 organizations. Although these organizations are highly interconnected with the expand ing state system and world economy, as reflections of and contributors to world culture they have helped construct a world polity that canno t be reduced to networks of economic and political interaction. Our an alysis of the structure and aims of these organizations identifies the principles of universalism, individualism, voluntaristic authority, r ational progress, and world citizenship as central elements of world c ulture. We also describe the structure of world culture by studying th e distribution of these organizations across major social sectors, hig hlighting the centrality of rationalizing scientific, technical, econo mic, and infrastructural organizations that go largely unnoticed. Fina lly, we review sectoral historical studies showing how these organizat ions shape world culture and influence states and intergovernmental or ganizations.