The Roles of NGOs in the Kimberley Process

A significant scholarly literature has developed investigating global social movements and the influential role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in global politics (e.g., Clark, Friedman, and Hochstetler 1998; della Porta and Tarrow 2005; Smith 1999; Willetts 1996). In particular, scholars have theorized the growth and nature of civil society in the context of recent cultural and economic globalization processes (Boli and Thomas 1999; Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink 1999; Meyer et al. 1997; Khagram, Riker, and Sikkink 2002). Empirical studies have presented evidence of the expansion of the international NGO sector (Boli and Thomas 1999), of the increasingly transnational character of NGO networks (Smith, Chatfield, and Pagnucco 1997; Clark, Friedman, and Hochstetler1998; della Porta, Kriesi, and Rucht1999), and of the effects of the global orientation of those networks on movement strategies and tactics (Della Porta and Tarrow 200; Smith 1999; Keck and Sikkink 1998). That NGOs play key roles in setting the agenda of various global actors has been well documented by many studies (e.g., della Porta, Kriesi, and Rucht 1999; Johnson 2000; Keck and Sikkink 1998; Khagram, Riker, and Sikkink 2002; Price 1998; Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink 1999). What receivesmuch less attention, however, are the roles that NGOs play after an issue has been successfully put on the global agenda. Once issues have entered the realm of global awareness and related new norms become recognized, political negotiations and, possibly, the adoption and implementation of new agreements tend to follow. The roles that NGOs play in these more formal, bureaucratic processes remains understudied, especially when such decision-making unfolds outside UN auspices.