NGOs: Filling the Void

Power has slowly seeping from the Nation state. Embroiled in multilateral treaties, particularly since the Second World War, with the initiation of the Bretton Woods Agreement, GATT, NAFTA, ASEAN, the European Union, WTO, WHO, etc. all of which has eroded the nation state’s sovereign ability to act unilaterally. In parallel with this trend, we see the rise of the Multinational Corporation. It is generally accepted that these corporations are beholden only to their shareholders and, ultimately, to profit margins. By their very essence of being Multinational, who now regulates and monitors them? Many have annual turnovers in the multi billion range, giving them more economic leverage and, through the lobbying system, more diplomatic influence than many nations.

“The result of that has been the emergence of a wide range of

human activities which owe little or nothing to geographical location, time

of day and, most important of all, to government permission or regulation.” (1)

Even those companies, ostensibly still beholden to a nation state, such as BAE Systems, Britain’s largest arms manufacturer, can exert enough influence over the government to have a recent criminal investigation into corruption and bribery halted in its tracks. No lies were told to the public, no one pretended the charges were false; the investigation was simply not allowed to continue because the government deemed it so. If governments no longer have authority over these companies, it can be left to NGOs to set the moral agenda.

Jody Williams, the co-ordinator of the International Campaign to Ban

Landmines, wins the 1997 Nobel prize for Peace. In a subsequent interview

she announces that not only had: “We won the Nobel prize [but] we changed

the way diplomacy is done”. (2)

Greenpeace has become very active in fighting against the unaccountable multinationals with recent campaigns “ranging from the effort to stop the forestry “clear-cutting” in Canada, the scaling of the BP offshore rig the Brent Spar in the North Sea, and the boycott of Shell because of the execution of the imprisoned Ken Saro-Wiwa and the “Ogani Nine” in Nigeria, caught Western governments in the

crossére.” (3)

While there is an unfortunate time lag, NGOs seem to be stepping into the void, taking the Multinationals to task and replacing the dated concept of government reproach with the force of public opinion, seizing their authority from a “vacuum of responsibility”. (4) Save the Children, Amnesty International and Medecin Sans Frontiers, are all expanding their offices and diplomatic efforts at the UN, The director for Greenpeace UK said,

“It’s a completely natural evolution. It’s not enough simply to say there’s something happening to the environment. You now have to say what needs to be done to solve the problem”. (5)

(1) Langhorne, R Diplomacy of Non-State Actors, Diplomacy and

Statecraft, vol. 16, (2005) pp 332

(2) Hocking,B. & Governments, NGOs & the Recalibration

Cooper, A. F. of Diplomacy, Global Society, vol. 14, no. 3

(2000) pp 365

(3) Ibib.

(4) Ibid. pp 368

(5) Bandler, J. Boston Globe, (7th June 1998) in: Hocking &

Cooper, Governments, NGOs & the

Recalibration of Diplomacy, , Global Society,

vol. 14, no. 3 (2000) pp 365