The Limits of Pragmatism in American Foreign Policy: Unsolicited Advice to the Bush Administration on Relations with International Nongovernmental Organizations

Abstract

The Bush Administration has tended to see nongovernmental organizations in a pragmatic way, as functionally the equivalent of domestic volunteer organizations. This article argues that the Bush Administration ought to see nongovernmental organizations as organizations seeking to substitute so-called international civil society, on the one hand, and public organizations, on the other, for the authority of democratically sovereign states. Looking beyond the particular issues on which NGOs press political agendas - human rights, environmentalism, etc. - the function of NGOs is to delegitimize democratic sovereignty in favor of liberal internationalism. The article argues that the Bush Administration, rather than merely battling with NGOs over particular issues, ought to aim to change the culture of the international community to recognize the virtues of democratic sovereignty over utopian internationalism.