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This paper examines the rise of networks of transnational non-governmental organisations (NGOs) within Asia and by Asia-based NGOs and counterparts in the West. The very terms ‘civil society’ and ‘NGO’ have different connotations within various Asian countries, which provide very different legal and political environments for non-state actors. Despite these barriers, some transnational cooperation has developed in response to specific issues and in response to an international growth of social movements. Four main types of cooperation can be identified: cooperation of individual local NGOs with international organisations; bilateral or multilateral cooperation between specific NGOs within a sub-region of Asia; region-wide organisations to address particular issues; and advocacy within the framework of broader civil society groupings. This paper maps these emerging forms of transnational NGO cooperation; examines the impact which such cooperation has had in strengthening the capacity of NGOs; considers the prospects for the further development of NGO cooperation; and assess the implications of these developments for debates about the potential of transnational civil society as a vehicle for social change and the idea of civil society in Asia. It examines two case studies. The first case involves the Asia-Europe People’s Forum, a parallel summit which has been created on the margins of the Asia-Europe Meeting, and which brings together disparate non-state groups to address collectively a wide range of state-sponsored agenda. The second case examines the development of inter-NGO networks around mine action in Southeast Asia, focusing in particular on the impact of external actors on local NGO activities. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates over the significance of non-governmental actors and their (perceived and evidential) role in shaping, and being influenced by, local understandings of ?civil society? have become commonplace in Western literature. This paper examines the problems inherent in applying this growing body of literature to the case of Asia, by examining in particular the changing nature of domestic and international non-governmental organizations involved in mine action in Southeast Asia.First, it will examine the problems inherent in the foundational assumptions of this literature when applied to the disparate forms of civil or civic behaviour in Asia. It will also analyse the impact of legal and social constraints existing within the three states under investigation (namely, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) vis-à-vis civil society actors and particular definitions of the term ?NGO.?Second, it will examine how the processes of networking and socialisation between and among international and local NGO groups in mine action have impacted on the host environments in which they function. In this way, it aims to contextualise NGO behaviour; to explain the (non-) existence of European-style NGO activity within Asia; to analyze the impact of international discourses of activism and democracy on locally active group formation and behaviour; and to present potential alternative typologies for such nonstate groupings. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]