Exploring the Beethamite Framework for NGO Legitimacy: Challenges and Insights
This presentation by Erla Thrandardottir at the DSA Annual Conference discusses key issues surrounding NGO legitimacy through the lens of the Beethamite framework. It examines the literature dilemma, the national-international gap, and various approaches to understanding NGO accountability and effectiveness. The talk highlights the darker sides of NGOs, including their reliance on neoliberal agendas and the role they play in filling legitimacy gaps for intergovernmental organizations. Case studies of Amnesty International, Cafod, and Greenpeace illustrate these concepts in practice.
Exploring the Beethamite Framework for NGO Legitimacy: Challenges and Insights
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Presentation Transcript
A Beethamite framework for NGOs DSA Annual Conference 3 November 2012 Erla Thrandardottir
The questions • Literature dilemma? • National-international gap? • Beethamite framework?
Various approaches to NGO legitimacy • market model • services, performance, accountability, credibility • Problem: excl. advocacy and political side of NGOs • social change model • association, ‘bottom-up’, accountability, democracy • Problem: overlooks darker side of NGOs • new institutional model • norms, NGOs as legitimacy gap fillers for IGOs • Problem: NGOs often not unit of analysis • critical (development) model • empowerment, donor’s agendas, politics • Problem: over-reliant on neoliberal agenda for context?
Beetham’s criteria operationalised for NGOs • Legitimacy as derived from rules • How do NGOs claim legal validity? (internal/external) • Legitimacy as justifiability of rules • What are the internal legitimation processes of NGOs? • Authoritative sources & Justifiable content • Legitimacy through expressed consent • In what capacity do NGOs present their legitimacy claims? • What is the (moral) authority of NGOs’ legitimacy claims?
Applying Beetham's legitimacy criteria to NGOs • NGOs’ power to • Target audience: external (politicians, corporations, general public, global institutions, beneficiaries) • NGOs’ power over • Target audience: internal (members, staff, supporters, and to some extent beneficiaries)
Case studies • Amnesty International: Membership NGO • Cafod: Faith-based NGO • Greenpeace: Environmental NGO
Conclusion • Look at the normative structure of power and how it is socially constructed • Misleading to separate discussions on national and international units of NGOs • International legitimacy of NGOs rather than legitimacy of International NGOs