Abstract
Structural criteria for defining the legitimacy of NGOs as partners of corporations often focus on technical aspects. As a consequence, structural criteria might serve as indicators for the descriptive legitimacy of NGOs but not for their normative legitimacy. This becomes evident in attempts such as to define NGOs by assessing whether they qualify for tax-exempt status in accordance with the US Internal Revenue Code. Legal accountability must not be confused with normative legitimacy. It is however admitted that structural measures such as disclosure statements might help to reveal corporate front groups, which constitute the most extreme case of blurred boundaries between NGOs and interest groups. Yet, beyond that, the orientation to be gained from accountability mechanisms which NGOs deploy is often hampered by the fact that these mechanisms mainly address the requirements of governments and donors. When it comes to the accountability of NGOs to their constituency, structural criteria are not as unambiguous. It is argued that NGOs need to be linked to their activist constituency to some extent in order to receive input from the grassroots. But structural criteria do not help in assessing the right degree of proximity between NGOs and more radical groups. Structural criteria thus only provide limited normative orientation. They might help to reveal the blurred boundaries between NGOs and interest groups but in general they fail to capture the fine lines between the three actor types.
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Notes
- 1.
As mentioned in the section on the addressees of NGO legitimization (in the section “Addressees of NGO Legitimization” (Chapter 1)), Slim’s conception of voice accountability is termed downward accountability by other authors (Brown and Jagadananda, 2007: 24; Fowler, 2000: 63; Ebrahim, 2003: 816; Edwards and Hulme, 1996: 969).
- 2.
However, if we believe Hertel, the legal constraints which the nonprofit tax status entails, seem yet to be effective in securing legitimacy in so far as “(s)ome groups leave the NGO sector entirely, forgoing the traditional 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax status under U.S. law in order to be able to gain revenue from the promotion of strategies to enhance corporate responsibility” (Hertel, 2010: 172).
- 3.
On why requiring democratic structures is not tenable from a deliberative point of view see section “Implications of Restricting the Content of Public Reason” (Chapter 7).
- 4.
Suchman contrasts this conception of legitimacy with moral legitimacy, which reflects conscious moral judgments about the rightness of an activity. As a third notion he introduces cognitive legitimacy, which depends on the social acceptance of an organization and its behaviour (Suchman, 1995: 578ff.). As we will see later, the difference between pragmatic and moral legitimacy is especially relevant for the context at hand, because it is exemplary in pointing out the different notions of legitimacy that are typically associated with interest groups (self-interested calculations) and NGOs (moral legitimacy).
- 5.
Nijhof, de Bruijn, and Honders (2008: 164) note that the problem is further aggravated by the fact that NGOs are most likely to be sponsored or involved as partners by companies who predominantly follow a strategy of risk control. Such a strategy means that these companies only see NGO-business partnerships as a strategic tool in order to maintain their reputation or in order to prevent it from being damaged. Such companies should be approached especially critically by NGOs.
- 6.
The dependence can also assume less straightforward forms. The pressure might not directly stem from companies as funding sources but rather from foundations that make the granting of funds to NGOs dependent on the NGOs’ engagement with a company (SustainAbility, 2003: 33).
- 7.
“Greenpeace relies on donations from generous individuals to carry out our work. In order to remain independent, we do not accept funding from governments, corporations or political parties.” (http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/donate)
- 8.
Other means for avoiding structural co-optation are a thorough monitoring of the projects involved in a partnership and explicitly stated permission to criticize the other partner in activities that are not part of the partnership. We could extend this with a limitation on co-branding, and clear guidelines on the interplay between confidentiality and transparency in various aspects of the partnership. Moreover, both partners are usually allowed to withdraw from the cooperation any time (SustainAbility, 2003: 30).
- 9.
Snow, Soule, and Kriesi (2004: 7) find a similar distinction at work between social movements and interest groups. According to them, interest groups “are generally embedded within the political arena”, whereas social movements “are typically outside of the polity”. Snow concludes from the embedding of interest groups that they are recognized as legitimate actors within the system whereas social movements usually lack the same “standing or degree of access to or recognition among political authorities”. Obviously, Snow et al. advocate a descriptive notion of legitimacy which equates with social acceptance.
- 10.
BP’s official justification was that “the time to consider the policy dimensions of climate change is not when the link between greenhouse gases and climate change is conclusively proven, but when the possibility cannot be discounted and is taken seriously by the society of which we are part. We in BP have reached that point.” (Earth Policy Institute, 2006). One can easily recognize the company’s attempt to salvage its reputation by taking societal perceptions as a benchmark for its actions. When Ford left the GCC a couple of years later, it stated that “over the course of time, membership in the Global Climate Coalition has become something of an impediment for Ford Motor Company to achieving our environmental objectives” (Earth Policy Institute, 2006). With this statement, Ford made it clear that it realized the impending threat to its credibility in the field of environmental responsibility if it kept its membership in the GCC alive. The GCC eventually disbanded in 2002 (Sourcewatch, 2007).
- 11.
A reaction to the professional NGOs’ disconnection from their constituencies can be seen in mass membership organizations of the poor and excluded in the southern half of the globe which typically focus on activist behaviour, such as the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil (Fowler, 2000: 31).
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Baur, D. (2012). Structural Characteristics of Legitimate Partner NGOs. In: NGOs as Legitimate Partners of Corporations. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 36. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2254-5_13
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