The Democratic Deficit, Intergovernmental Organizations,and Global Civil Society.

In this paper I examine the impact of global civil society in world politics through investigating its effect on Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) democracy. In so doing I first clarify the conceptual framework of the democratic deficit in IGOs given that there is no academic consensus in defining the concept. Based on a minimalist definition, I employ the outside-in model and the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) to explore the influence of global civil society over improving the democratic deficit in IGOs. I argue that weaknesses of global civil society decrease its role in improving IGO democracy, though it does have a positive impact in the process. In particular, three important factors in global civil society contribute to the lagging democratic development in IGOs: different levels of knowledge and expertise in NGOs; the marginalization of women, southern, and rural NGOs; the accountability problem of NGOs themselves. The paper highlights the strengths and weaknesses of global civil society in changing the landscape of world politics. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]