Actors In World Politics: A Taxonomy and The Legal Personality of NGOs

Abstract

As the role of non-state actors continues to rise on the agenda of global politics, the engagement of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in various issue areas is taking on new relevance. The presence ofa sizeable voluntary sector that interacts transnationally has brought forward new questions about thebewildering complexity of world politics, which consists of interactions among similar units known asnation-states. Within this complexity, the exceptional position of the state has largely dominated at theexpense of other entities such as NGOs, transnational corporations, and intergovernmental organisations, which have been attributed secondary status. This two-tiered approach, however, has been gradually changed by the effect of global developments, unprecedented growth in technology, and dramaticchanges in the scope of international connectivity. These developments have fundamentally influencedthe traditional world system paradigm established on the basis of the sole authority of the nation-state,with due credit now being given to NGOs. This paper primarily focuses on these latter actors, followingan interpretive and descriptive qualitative social research methodology. In particular, it takes NGOs forthe core analysis, uncovering their legal personality within the broad generalisation of non-state actortaxonomy. This paper claims that although NGOs are not deemed to enjoy international legal personality, their relative power has been exercised considerably in various policy areas.