EMERGING NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION: THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL ACTION?

International Organization Assignment, December 23rd 2009
EMERGING NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION:
THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL ACTION?
Gracia Paramitha, 070710415


Introduction
Since the Cold war ended, there are some counter state-organizations that can be ignored. (Fasya, 2007) The non state actor comes from nongovernmental organization (NGO) that increases rapidly because of globalization. It frequently speak up about low political issues (environment, human rights, social justice, etc), like Greenpeace, Oxfam, or Save The Children. (Widodo, 2008) In many developing countries, the presence of NGO are engaged in an extensive array of activities, including philanthropic work to people left out of the developmental process as well as efforts at addressing problems of environmental destruction and other negative consequences of economic development, and efforts to institutionalize popular political participation. When seen individually, the future prospects of quite a number of NGOs may be rather shaky, but there is no denying that NGO as a group have established themselves as a recognized sector of society.
Considering the raison d’etre of NGOs in the social context of developing countries, two premises are the existence of people who have been left out of the market-based developmental process and are unable to secure the necessary resources to fulfilling lives. It seems to define that state still conduct fundamental factor behind the establishment and continued existence of NGOs in countries, especially developing countries. To understand the definition of NGOs, there are six requirements that must be inquiry, such as: non-governmental, non-profit making, voluntary, of a solid and continuing form, altruistic, and philanthropic. “Non-governmental” means that an NGO must carry out its decision making process independently from state wishes. “Non profit making” means that NGO’s activities mustn’t be driven by profit motives (like corporate), it isn’t supposed to be a personal benefit for its member. And then, “voluntary system” means that the only qualification for membership must be the desire of individual interest and participation. The fourth condition, “solid and continuing form” means that NGO must be an ongoing entity with a solid organization form. “Altruistic” means the immediate purpose of an NGO is to act for the benefit of others. The last, “philanthropic” means that an NGO has a poor prospect of receiving adequate payments from the recipient of its services. Therefore, it needs some main support from other foundation (fund raising) or corporation to fulfill their social responsibility.

Analytical Framework
To elaborate the analytical framework of NGO building, there are three main approaches that manifest it, such as: (1) the characteristics of NGO, (2) the economic space for NGOs, (3) the political space for NGOs.

a. Characteristic of NGO
The ideological and social backgrounds of the members of an NGO, as well as its financial basis, go a long way towards shaping its action programme and approach, which in turn are reflected in its attitude towards the state and the contents of its activities. For instance, in Indonesia Revolution era, Soekarno brought NASAKOM (national communism and religious) ideology to take out colonialism and imperialism. Another example is the philosophical influence of Hinduism and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi remain strong, NGO activists have been traditionally imbued with a strong sense of voluntarism.
b. The economic space of NGO
The most important factor of manifesting NGO is about financial support. Speaking of money, NGO should provide the services and various goods for individual citizens. The market is an arena where individual citizens must purchase resources in a competitive way. It will be more useful if NGO make administrative system and mechanism.
The resource-distributing function is usually seen as being performed by the market and the state alone. Both orthodox economics and theory of civil society take the binary opposition between the market and the state for granted. As noted already, the society is often equipped with some rules peculiar to itself, according to which it maintains and distributes resources that cannot be supplied by either market or the state. For example, it’s a common practice for Japanese rural communities to maintain a commonly owned forest/irrigation system, Chinese society people often form associations from the same province, Islamic societies have the zakat (poor-relief tax), etc. When the system of market, state, and community fail to perform their resource-distributing functions properly, there is room for NGOs to emerge as fourth category of agents to distribute resources on their own, or interfere with the existing distribution systems, making up/correcting their shortcomings. (Korten, 1990: 100)
STATE




MARKET COMMUNITY

c. The political space of NGO
The next determined factor towards existence of NGO is the extent of political control exercised over them by the state and society, or what Hall and Ikenbery call the “despotic dimension” of the state. The threat becomes real with the emergence of NGOs which directly criticize the state’s existing system of resource distribution. The political space for NGOs is not determined solely by the state. Communities have a similar “despotic dimension” in the sense that, since they supply resources to their constituent members, they can coerce their members into behaving in accordance with the certain norms. Because of this condition, many NGOs are active in changing the very environments surrounding them (Heyzer, 1995; Levitt, 1973).

Conclusion
As a matter of fact, the NGOs are not the only and most fundamental actor in world politics. I believe that their existence could remain the power of state, they are counters for state, and also the emerging organization for communities. This positive development should be supported by the responsibility of corporate and business. NGO is a fundamental role from grassroots level which impact progressive change and critical opinion towards government.


References :
Fasya,K.Teuku.2007.Apa Misi Sosialmu NGO?, http://kingagung.wordpress.com/2007/09/22/apa-misi-sosialmu-ngo/, diakses pada tanggal 14 Desember 2009 pukul 22:20.
Heyzer, Noeleen et al. 1995. Government-NGO Relations in Asia: Prospects and Challenges for People-Centered Development. Kuala Lumpur: Asian and Pacific Development Centre
Korten, David C. 1990. Getting to the 21st Century: Voluntary Action and the Global Agenda. West Hartford: Kumarian Press
Levitt, Theodore. 1973. The Third Sector: New Tactics for a Responsive Society. New York: AMACOM
Widodo,Slamet.2008.Proses Perubahan Sosial Dalam Konteks Global,http://learning-of.slametwidodo.com/2008/02/01/proses-perubahan-sosial-dalam-konteks-global/, diakses pada tanggal 14 Desember 2009 pukul 22:09.