New Directions in Transnational Activism: Non-Governmental Organizations and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

Abstract

During the last two decades, the literature on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and transnational activism has become voluminous and increasingly sophisticated. Both of these books provide novel insights into transnational activism. In particular, both books offer a fresh perspective on the ways in which economic, social and cultural rights are being promoted by NGOs. The most general of these books, New Rights Advocacy, looks at the growing convergence in the work of leading development and human rights NGOs. In particular, it is the first significant study of what is termed “new rights advocacy.” According to the authors, one a reputed specialist on the World Bank and NGOs, the other chair of the Board of Amnesty International USA, new rights advocacy is “advocacy on social, economic, or development policy, at local, national, or international levels, which makes explicit reference to internationally recognized human rights standards. It features explicit appeals to these standards, it promotes both civil and political human rights and economic and social human rights, and it targets a broad range of actors” (p. 19). At the center of the book's focus are three developments: (i) the increasing promotion of economic, social and cultural rights by NGOs originally primarily concerned with civil and political human rights; (ii) a turn to human rights-based approaches by development, environmental and labor NGOs; and (iii) the growth of new movements, campaigns and networks involving both development and human rights NGOs. The term “new rights advocacy” is also intended to refer to claims to “new” rights such as the right to water.