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We argue that the historical development of a country's political system, in particular its system of political parties, should have lasting effects on the nongovernmental organization (NGO) population of the country through the styles of NGO regulation the government adopts. NGOs can serve as substitutes for political parties as mechanisms of political representation and interest mobilization and mediation. NGOs are thus potential political competitors for authority as well as collaborators in processes of service provision and interest mediation (Dür 2008; Beyers, Eising, and Maloney 2008; Steffek, Kissling, and Nanz, 2008). In countries with a single or hegemonic political party there is thus a strong incentive, and the ability, to strictly regulate NGOs in order to limit competition for power (Dahl 1966; Wolinetz 2004). We thus hypothesize that national NGO regulations will be more restrictive in countries with single party systems. In these countries, however, there is strong demand for NGOs to represent interests otherwise excluded from political parties (formal avenues for representation) and thus we expect larger populations of INGOs. In cases where there are a number of political parties representing contending interests within society, we expect to see fewer NGOs, as there are formal alternatives with better access to policy-making already available. Permissive NGO regulation, on the other hand, are more likely in countries with the most political parties (3 or more) as the extent of political competition created by the party system creates a state-society relationship which encourages contestation and thus NGOs do not fundamentally challenge political stability and structure (Sartori 1976; Siaroff 2000; Salamon and Anheier 1998). We expect there are likely to be more INGOs in countries with moderate multiparty systems, as opposed to extreme multiparty systems, as in the latter there will already be a multiplicity of interests represented. We use data on the number of political parties from the Database of Political Institutions (Beck et al. 2001) in combination with data on national populations of INGOs from the Union of International Associations and our original index of National NGO Regulation in order to assess the institutional (legal) relationship between parties and NGOs as alternative mechanisms of interest representation within the OECD. Our research reinforces the fundamental importance of state structures for understanding the shape and size of national INGO populations as well as their behavior. We thus investigate political party competition as an explanation for variations within national NGO regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are international non?]governmental organizations (INGOs) evolving overtime to increasingly resemble each other institutionally and operationally? Competition among INGOs for funding, membership, volunteers, and projects has been hypothesized to drive INGOs into increasingly narrow patterns of behavior (Cooley and Ron 2002). Institutional constraints imposed upon INGOs by national regulations on legal identities and operations might also drive increasing similarities among INGOs (Bloodgood 2010). I use a dataset containing information on the organization and operations of 49 INGOs in a selection of 60 countries as recorded in the Yearbook of International Organizations from 1960 until 2010 in order to assess if INGOs have become increasingly similar over time. This sample provides clues to the evolution of INGOs as a total population as it includes INGOs active in all regions of the world, across issue areas, with different goals, and different scales of operation in order to control for issue area, geographic focus, and economic resources. If populations of INGOs are becoming increasingly similar institutionally and behaviorally, this has important implications for international relations and our current beliefs about the benefits and contributions of INGOs. Isomorphism might decrease INGO legitimacy, efficacy, adaptability, and creativity; alternatively isomorphism might increase INGO efficiency, efficacy, and improve working relations among INGOs and between INGOs and government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines claims that recent obsessions with NGO accountability may have pushed NGOs to the edge in a cross-national dataset of NGOs registered with the European Union. While different models of accountability situate the capacity and responsibility to monitor NGO behavior with different actors, all mechanisms of accountability impose a cost or penalty on an organization in response to information about an abuse or violation of rules or obligations. This paper examines the most extreme outcome-NGO death-as as unintended and undesirable outcome in order to improve accountability mechanisms in the future. Logistic regression analysis of more than 1500 NGOs between 2011 and 2012 is used to examine which mechanisms of accountability, including government regulation, donor dependence, charity watchdogs, board governance, or website disclosure, pose the greatest risks for NGO mortality. As the debate on accountability mechanisms for NGOs becomes more nuanced, moving from the need for accountability to the mechanisms which best accomplish their intended purposes, this research suggests that some mechanisms impose too high a cost given their goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peter Haas defines epistemic communities by their common characteristics: shared sets of causal and principled beliefs, a consensual knowledge base, and a common policy enterprise. (Haas and Adler, 1992) Logically causal ideas and principled beliefs travel together, as paradigms have at their core assumptions about how the world works or shared worldviews. (Kuhn 1996) It is also not surprising that experts who share worldviews and causal ideas would arrive over time at a common knowledge base. What we consider to be knowledge is strongly influenced by our epistemological positions and methodological approaches. Epistemology, and a preference for the use of certain methodologies, are to a considerable extent influenced by normative commitments. The question then becomes which comes firstâ€"information or norms? While we need epistemology to interpret facts, and facts only make sense as knowledge in light of normative positions, norms form as facts become commonly accepted by a certain community which then stops testing this fact but accepts it on principle. To what extent do epistemic communities influence policy-makers because they disseminate norms (help frame issues according to a certain norm thus making some policy alternatives more appropriate than others) or because they provide decision-makers with information which reduces uncertainty about the problem and alternative policies? To untangle the effects of information and norms, I examine the emergence and consolidation of two influential international epistemic communities which emerged around the issues of ozone depletion and nuclear arms control and disarmament. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost every observer and analyst of non-governmental organizations has commented on the monumental growth in the scale and range of their operations and activities over the past three decades. More NGOs are active in more places doing more things with more resources. This paper asks if there is a pattern to the massive growth of their functions which might both explain recent growth and predict their influence in international relations. We take a complex systems approach to the study of the “NGO phenomena” using agent-based modeling in order to simulate the strategies commonly adopted by international NGOs as they seek influence in foreign policy-making in their national governments and within international organizations. In particular we focus on the influence of four key factors in the evolution of our population of NGOsâ€"information, access to policy-making, allies (governmental and non-governmental), and resources (financial in particular)â€"in order to see which of these factors is most important in determining the survival and growth of an NGO and to see how and if the evolution of the actual population of international NGOs over the past 25 years is reflected (at least in its key elements) by the simple models of NGOs examined. This study has important implications for our understanding of the relationship of INGOs to the international community as well as the efficacy of alternative institutional forms and strategies among INGOs. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What roles do protest songs have in the organization, continuation, communication, and effectiveness of a social movement in the current political context? The goal of this paper is to incorporate previous scholars’ insights about protest songs as a means of political communication and an aid to collective action into political science and to test if they still apply in the era of globalization for the agendas of “new social movements.” We argue that globalization has wrought technological changes and changes in the nature of social movements and the campaigns they launch (both the issues they target and the enemies they fight against). Secondly, audiences and their tastes in music have also changed in ways that have changed the nature and efficacy of protest songs. Nevertheless, protest songs can still play a valuable roll in the repertoire of social movements today as in the past. Our empirical research demonstrates the value of and need for a comparative analysis of protest songs across time, issue, locale, music, and genre in order to understand their change forms, content, purpose, and efficacy. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]