Neil, Pam, Wil and others who've responded recently... I found Neil's viewpoint very interesting and quite a thoughtful response... I confess that some points made me raise my eyebrow, but in general, I seem to agree with Neil. I agree with Pam... Betsill and Corell have looked at NGO influence quite systematically. I am aware that they are coordinating a book effort on NGO influence. Influence has also been studied, to my knowledge, by Newell and Arts, and they all seem to start from David Knoke's definition of influence. The fact that we're having this discussion on the GEP ED list shows that there is still ample disagreement on what constitutes influence and whether we can actually find causation (e.g. whether an outcome can be directly a response of NGO influence). In my own research, I've found international institutions to be very 'influential' (I'm starting to hate this word) in shaping domestic environmental policies. To be able to separate international institutions' and ENGO's influence is a methodological challenge I ! doubt anyone has been able to overcome.
I think that Neil's last few sentences summarize the challenge that those of us interested in NGO influence face... "For me, the problem is how to treat the relative influence of actor and context (a variant on the agent-structure issue or internal or external views according to Hollis and Smith). Political processes are very complex and as such it is improbable that direct causal connections between one actor's actions and subsequent events can ever be conclusive." "If we agree that sometimes NGOs are influential and sometimes they are not and that their influence varies in quantity and by medium (e.g. between science and politics) between issues, we should set the puzzle differently. Both from scholarly and practical perspectives it would be more useful to answer the question: Under what conditions (in what contexts) can NGOs significantly influence environmental policy? Secondly, we could ask: When they are able to influence environmental policy, is it primarily through science or politics? This sounds like an interesting and useful research program that could advance knowledge and help NGOs with limited resources decide where to place their bets." I found that Mexican NGOs are usually much more influential in domestic policy making when they reach out to international institutions (a la Keck and Sikkink or Risse-Kappen and Sikkink, boomerang effect, though I use a different typology, the first and second order pressure transmission mechanisms). International institutions provide a forum where they can voice their concerns and use 'blame and shame' strategies. This is the case of Mexican ENGOs building transnational coalitions around pollutants and priority contaminants. However, this may not be the case in other cases of NGO involvement. I would be happy to be part of a larger research project where we could compare NGO influence across arenas, countries and cases. I think Michele and Elisabeth have already started doing something like that. Comments welcome, too. And thanks to everyone for contributing to the discussion. Fora like these are rare... :) Warmest regards, Raul -- --Raul -------------------------------- Raul Pacheco [EMAIL PROTECTED]
