International Ngos

International nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have emerged as major players on the international scene in the post–Cold War global era. By 2010, estimates put the number of NGOs that work internationally at more than 50,000. They come in all shapes and sizes, but two major categories (which overlap) are advocacy and operational. Advocacy-focused groups address many social justice issues—for example, global integrity, rights of indigenous peoples, and gender rights. The more operationally focused groups work on a vast array of activities, ranging from HIV/AIDS programs to education, global health, and protecting the environment. NGOs with a religious character are often termed faith-based organizations (FBOs) or faith-inspired organizations (FIOs), the latter defined to capture a wider group of organizations. FIOs are also advocates and service providers. This entry highlights definitional issues; the path of their evolution; key roles played by international NGOs, with a particular focus on FIOs; and some debates that surround them.

Contending definitions highlight this topic's complexity. A vast literature exists about civil society and the multitude of institutions involved. The term NGO highlights what NGOs are not: Above all, they are not governments. The word organization suggests that they have some form of legal foundation, and international highlights their transnational roles. Other commonly used terms include CSOs (civil society organizations), highlighting, by stressing civil society, their civic, social purposes and citizen roles in their creation and management; PVOs (private voluntary organizations), a term often used by the U.S. government, which highlights the significance of voluntary engagement and of volunteers; and not-for-profit organizations, which underscores a broad financial character distinct from private business. Each of these definitions has drawbacks, but they all underscore the great variety in the types of organizations and their capacity for innovation and adaptation to differing circumstances and social needs.

There are definitional debates surrounding FIOs, some similar to those involving secular civic organizations and others more specifically tied to the link to religion. The fundamental question of how FIOs differ from other NGOs (Is there some kind of “faith DNA”?) is much debated. Many FIOs function much like other NGOs, while others present their religious dimensions in a more overt, leading role, including evangelizing as an intrinsic goal. Relationships between FIOs and religious organizations vary, from organizations formally linked to a specific religious body (Lutheran World Service), international interfaith organizations that bring together different faith traditions, and less formally affiliated organizations (e.g., Habitat for Humanity International) to organizations that look more like federations or movements. By some measures and definitions, religion is itself a NGO; the terms FBO and FIO highlight that some more organized, generally legally constituted entity is involved, albeit in very different ways; faith or religious beliefs are intrinsic to the inspiration and character of these organizations.

Private organizations whose primary purposes are social, not business, have existed for centuries, but the explosion in numbers and activities of international NGOs dates from the post–World War II period. An important marker is explicit recognition of civil society organizations in the U.N. Charter. Important antecedents were the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movements and networks that mobilized and integrated antislavery and women's rights campaigns. Globalization has contributed to NGO growth, with information technologies propelling new international links, but NGOs also are factors in globalization trends. The quantitative dimensions of [Page 566]what is a revolutionary increase in the numbers of organizations are difficult to pin down, in part because of disputed definitions but also because the diversity of organizations makes counting problematic. As an indicator, some 3,500 CSOs/NGOs are accredited formally to the United Nations. This stands in contrast to the related but different numbers of national CSOs/NGOs: the United States counts 2 million in this category and India, 1.2 million.

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