Political responsibility in transnational NGO advocacy

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) manifest a new political reality in th e global realm. NGOs have come to mobilize, articulate and represent people 's interests or concerns at different levers of decision-making: locally, n ationally and internationally. The central argument of this paper is that t he relationships that emerge among transnational NGO networks are highly pr oblematic. The dynamics in these relationships determine the quality of NGO advocacy, both in terms of its function as a channel to articulate differe nt development aspirations and as in terms of effectively embracing their r esponsibilities to other actors in the network. This paper introduces a con cept of political responsibility to clarify representation and accountabili ty in transnational NGO networks. Based upon different case studies of NGO advocacy campaigns, the paper also introduces four typologies of relationsh ips which may develop among networks, leading to a. varying degree of polit ical responsibility. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.