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This study asks the following questions: What explains the governance structures of inter-organizational networks? Are the multiple levels of network governance studied in the public (forms of coordination) and nonprofit literatures (network boards) related or do they respond to different driving influences such a dominant stakeholder group (Brown, Ebrahim and Batliwala, 2012) or the need to balance internal tensions (Provan & Kenis, 2008)? And are the values outlined in a network's vision, mission and values statements related to the governance structures they adopt? From this comparative case study of 41 humanitarian INGO networks, using a mixed methods research design, I find evidence for the following conclusions. First, the structural dimensions of network governance do indeed appear to cluster around two key components, the structure of the network board and a network's form of coordination, and these two dimensions are only loosely related. Second, while a network's form of coordination appears to be most related to internal dynamics related to size and resource disparities within the network; values, as well as philosophical and regional origins combine with age to provide the best explanation for why a network board is structured the way that it is. Although a balanced funding structure does appear to allow some secular networks to decentralize. And only when a network is sufficiently small and homogenous do factors such as the purpose of network coordination appear to impact how it is coordinated. And third, the values expressed by humanitarian INGO networks appear to vary along two dimensions (i.e. their general orientation and their approach to humanitarian action) although these dimensions are generally consistent with a three sector value trichotomy: Aligning with either a market, public or non-profit sector value system. In general, these findings support the propositions from the most recent theories of network governance in both the public (Provan & Kenis, 2008) and nonprofit (Brown, Ebrahim & Batliwala, 2012) literature. However, some extensions are proposed. First, the results of this study support the proposition that a network’s purpose influences the form of coordination it adopts. This contrasts with other empirical tests of this proposition. Second, the detailing of the various network governance characteristics that comprise the general network board structure expand and add clarity to the discussion of network forms. Specifically, how members are represented on a network board appear to be closely related to the purpose of coordination adopted by the network. And finally, nonprofit organizations appear to express values from the market, public and nonprofit values systems. However, each network tends to express a set of values consistent with just one of these value systems. And these values appear to be related to how the network is structured. Specifically, values appear to serve as a filter through which other environmental factors such as philosophical origins, regional culture and the era can influence the structure and functioning of a network. This moves forward the values discussion within these literatures by expressly connecting values to structure, which itself has been linked consistently to issues such as strategy and effectiveness.

The purpose of this master thesis was to gain more insights into the actual impact that INGOs like Human Rights Watch incorporate as part of global politics. The case of HRW proved to be a great example, which had been largely neglected by the academic analysts so far. The theoretical framework introduced important implications necessary to understand the influence of INGOs to date. Based on a constructivist thinking, it was possible to outline a global political order, which is tremendously influenced by civil society actors such as INGOs. Especially the increasing significance of norms within an internationally arena -- that is becoming more and more connected -- gives impetus to actors that base their work on these collective beliefs. The deliberative power incorporated by INGOs enables them to actually challenge nation-states as well as market representatives by transforming the public sphere thoroughly. Human Rights Watch as particular case study has been analyzed as an organization that epitomizes the power of a rising global civil society. Throughout their historical development, HRW actively contributed to the defense of human rights against repressive governments as well as other violators. Obviously, the foundation of HRW was to a tremendous extent dependent on an overall evolution of human rights within the international arena. The end of the Second World War and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations paved the way for human rights to become an official and crucial part of international affairs. However, it took until the mid-70s when human rights turned into a major paradigm to be followed by nation-states. With the emergence of Helsinki Watch and the consequent evolution of other watch committees, the non-governmental organization strongly engaged with repressive governments (regardless of political orientation) in various regions of the world. Analyzing the contemporary organizational structure of HRW has been a difficult task due to relatively little information available. However, one can clearly state that HRW nowadays acts as a human rights defending organization that is virtually able to respond to abuses in every corner of the world. Its eagerness to review organizational process and adjust to novel human rights issues provides HRW with a unique flexibility and a large room for operations. This is also further strengthened through the integration of HRW within the international arena when considering their consultative status at the United Nations, the platform for worldwide relevant negotiations. Their growing presence in major capitals in conjunction with effective methodological approaches frequently permits HRW employees to meet up with heads of states. The impact this might have on the domestic opposition as well as on the actual socialization of norms has been described with the help of the example from Mexico, where the government refused to deal with forced disappearances. By actively engaging on-site, HRW tremendously fostered civil society movements that were otherwise unheard and powerless. As indicated in line with the spiral model, the intervention of HRW transformed the public sphere and boosted the dialogue between public and civil society representatives. The eagerness of the Mexican government to implement changes must be perceived as a success of HRW in its pursuit to defend human rights.

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International NGOs have grown in stature and influence in China, and are widely seen as important contributors to the development of a more dynamic Chinese society. This paper contributes to theoretical frameworks regarding how to understand the way in which INGOs are able to influence certain political outcomes in China; arguing that in both the short and long-term, INGOs have worked to mobilise society in active support of environmental protection in different parts of China. The ability to change the social structure has been important in empowering relevant institutions within the state, such as the Ministry of Environmental Protection, to respond to environmental protection issues. A greater role for such ministries represents a change in political structures around environmental protection. In doing so, this paper provides a thorough analysis of China’s society’s response to environmental protection and the political decision making processes at play when environmental issues are involved. Two case studies collected from field work, of International Rivers contribution to the anti-dam movement in the campaign against the Nujiang Dam; and Pacific Environment’s support for a local NGO opposing river pollution in Anhui province, will be utilised to support the argument that INGOs’ mobilisation of society is an important means of ‘empowering’ the state to respond positively to environmental protection issues. Such developments are taken as signs of growing social pluralisation.

Objective Over the latest decades, NGOs have grown exponentially both in size and influence; they have come to play a significant role in development and support for civil society and the democratization process in developing countries. With an increased influence and budgets, NGOs have also come to be increasingly associated with corruption – as victims of corruption, as driving forces of corruption, and finally as anti-corruption activists and strategists. However, corruption is a complex and ill-defined concept where definitions and perceptions vary greatly between scholars and practitioners. The aim of the thesis is to describe and compare how western NGOs as well as the Swedish governmental donor agency Sida, operating in Afghanistan, a war-ridden, developing country with a high level of corruption define and approach corruption[1]. Theories The study is based on theories of institutionalism and anthropology to analyze how the chosen organizations define corruption. These theories are most appropriate for this thesis since the focus of the study is on organizations and the individuals working within them. Institutional theories study how institutions affect individuals behavior and how an individual's behavior affects the evolution of institutions. On the other hand, anthropology theories study how people who share a common cultural system organize and shape the physical and social world around them and how they, in turn, are shaped by those ideas, behaviors, and the environment. Analysis and methodology The analysis is based on an institutionalist approach, and organizational theories focus on power-dependency, considering that in terms of social science, the institutionalist approach emphasizes the role of institutions, which is the focus of this thesis. Therefore, this approach was an appropriate choice when conducting this research. The method used in the thesis is a comparative methodology. Each organization's anti-corruption policy, as well as interviews with representatives of two Swedish NGOs and Sida, was compared and analyzed. Results and discussion Similarities are found in organizations' formal definition of corruption, as all organizations share a similar anti-corruption policy, where corruption and corrupt activities are defined from a Western model. However, the differences are found in the experience of corruption, as NGOs, unlike Sida are active in the field, they are more exposed to the complex and challenging environment in which they feel that their formal guidelines and policies are not adapted to. They primarily experience that the level of tolerance of corruption varies in the context in which they are active.  The donor agency, Sida, is believed by the Swedish NGOs to be focusing more on working within the regulations and formal policies of anti-corruption, conducted by their origin country being Sweden, rather than on the complex nature of the context the operate in in this case being Afghanistan. Consequently, this issue is also followed by NGOs feeling pressure to implement projects within the framework of the donor agency's regulation, to avoid risking any loss of donor funds.  On the other hand, Sida states the opposite, emphasizing a more cooperative relationship with their partner NGOs.

This thesis investigates what the possible benefits and challenges are with different organization structures from the perspective of an international non-governmental organization (INGO). Based on learnings from other organizations it is examined what a revised structure could look like for Organization X in order to maximize their use of internal resources. The aim of the study is to achieve a structure more aligned with the strategic priorities of Organization X. As well as contribute to the field of organization theory from an INGO perspective. To achieve this benchmarking against other organizations is used to collect learnings in relation to organizational design. The learnings are analyzed in relation to organization theory and common challenges for INGOs. The result and analysis show that benchmarking can be used to gather valuable learnings regarding organizational design for INGOs in general and Organization X in particular. Two options for structural revisions for Organization X are presented. It is suggested that the second option should be implemented, at least as a first step, due to the current strategic priorities of the organization and the larger risks associated with option one. If implemented, the revisions proposed in this thesis should enable increased flexibility and the freeing up of resources, resulting in increased capability for fundraising and increased impact.

This doctoral research project conducts a political sociology of knowledge of non-governmental actors engaged in advocating and reporting on issues relating to conflict and human rights. It engages the following research question: what are the limits of knowledge produced by non-governmental advocates? This question is applied to empirical case studies looking at, firstly, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group, and secondly, a network of global activists working on post-war Sri Lanka (2010-2014). Applying a Bourdieusian sociological framework, the thesis argues that professional advocates' epistemic practices are shaped by an array of socio-political dependencies. Contrasting with past applications of Bourdieu to International Relations, this thesis reveals contextually-specific dependencies through multiple levels and scales of analysis. At the organisational level, these dependencies manifest through advocacy NGOs' market-like relations with their targeted consumers, as well as their relations with rival knowledge producers. At the level of the human practitioner, it is shown how leading advocacy NGOs are reliant upon a relatively narrow labour market, consisting of practitioners who share a strong dispositional affinity with their consumers. Studying a smaller group of global advocates working on post-war Sri Lanka, the thesis also demonstrates how symbiotic relations between NGO practitioners and leading policy stakeholders had a structuring effect on advocates' network relations, as well as stimulating a deference to a dominant policy discourse of 'liberal peace'. Shifting the attention to advocates' extraction of knowledge from its proximal contexts, this thesis also examines the influence of advocates' localised dependencies. In the case of post-war Sri Lanka, it is shown how foreign advocates' knowledge is informed by a limited set of domestic actors, primarily encompassing the country's liberal elites. Overall, these dependencies are argued to place significant constraints on knowledge generated in advocacy contexts - limits that differ to other modes of knowledge production.

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What does the global situation look like after the end of Cold War? To the scholars on the international politics, what they put focus on is the establishment of global order and the configuration of the international society. Compared with the situation during the Cold War era, the changes of political conflicts, development of technology and the nature of human culture have been getting intense and frequent in the past ten years. The main trend of international relationship is the move toward global integration, and that gradually replaces the notion of putting the nation on the center of issues. The importance of transnational units and un-military forces is getting more impressive and powerful. As a result, besides nations, many non-nation units gradually occupy the global stage. The words like non-governmental organizations, transnational corporations and transnational financial institution all become popular in the post- Cold War era as well. That the occurrence of these non-nations stands for the collapse of the boundary of nations has caused impact on the international system consisting of sovereign nations, and the result the impact might cause is the main issue of global change and globalization. What foreseeable is that nations aren¡¦t the sole unit of global politics anymore. The activities of international non-governmental organizations have gradually affected the foreign policy-making of these nations; the expansion of transnational corporations has also directly influenced the change of global economy. Meanwhile, with the move of capitals these transnational corporations need, the role played by the global financial institution deserves more attention. In this dissertation, the words, globalization and globalism, will be properly defined and reviewed. Then, on the basis of understanding the birth of sovereignty and nations, I will discuss the operational rules and the essential parts of nations. Finally, what impact the nations will face in the process of globalization will be analyzed