Political Minefields

Thomas Nash, over at the Cluster Munition Campaign, and I published an article in the most recent issue of Global Policy looking at how the Cluster Munition Ban illustrated increasing levels of cooperation between ‘middle powers‘ (like Norway, Canada, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Chile) and international NGOs in the development of international law.

Here is an abstract of our article:

Medium-sized wealthy states – middle powers – and global civil society networks are increasingly joining forces to influence the global policy agenda on issues of international law, justice, humanitarianism and development. These middle power–NGO coalitions use the comparative advantages of both state and nonstate actors in synergistic partnerships. States represent the coalitions’ interests in international negotiations and conferences, provide donor funding and offer diplomatic support. For their part, NGOs gather on-the-ground research, provide technical expertise, lobby governments, mobilise public opinion and generate media publicity. This article uses the case of the campaign to ban cluster munitions, culminating in the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, to examine the organisation, efforts and impact of such middle power–NGO coalitions.

To read the whole article, click here.

~ by Matthew Bolton on 27 June 2010.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: Cluster Munition Coalition, Cluster Munition Convention, cluster munitions, Global Policy, international humanitarian law, international law, International NGOs, Matthew Bolton, Middle Power-NGO Coalitions, middle powers, network diplomacy, NGOs, Norway, Thomas Nash