Global Social Policy and International Organizations

Abstract

This article analyses the inequality of access of people to the international policy process. It is argued that this presents an important challenge for global social policy considerations. The work explores the question of how these inequalities are produced, maintained and reproduced by looking at the relationship between international organizations and non-governmental organizations. As an entry point discussions of social exclusion are introduced and then linked to the concept of durable inequality. This move provides a way of looking at how conditions of exclusion are maintained and reproduced over time. Two instances of IO/NGO relationship are looked at as illustrative examples. The first case looks at the processes whereby international gay and lesbian organizations are trying to obtain formal NGO consultative status with the United Nations by applying to the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The second case looks at the role of NGOs within the formal structure of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), which has created a new perspective for international organizations.