Soft Power and NGOs
Russian government officials have publicly complained about the use by the United States' soft power to subvert the Russian regime. They have been especially critical of the use of US-supported NGOs. Here are some details on American NGOs from the Council on Foreign Relations.Soft Power: Democracy-Promotion and U.S. NGOs
"Democracy-promotion has long been an aspect of U.S. foreign policy, but it became a central component after September 11. The U.S. government has several channels for promoting democracy, most notably the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) and Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI); and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which provides funds to nations that already meet certain democratic standards. But a plethora of U.S. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also exist for this purpose, with varying degrees of financial dependency on the government. In recent years, their budgets have increased dramatically. Their activities include election-monitoring, educating citizens about their rights, and working with legislators, judges, and the media...
"[T]he majority of these institutes receive funding from the U.S. government...
"Most of the organizations are very sensitive about being associated with any political party, and all claim to be neutral...
"[The National Endowment for Democracy] NED, the biggest American NGO focused on democracy-promotion, distributes equal amounts of funds to four affiliated institutes: the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the Center for Independent Private Enterprise (CIPE), and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity ("Solidarity Center"). CIPE and the Solidarity Center are meant to balance the interests of business with those of labor...
"National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Established in 1983 under the Reagan administration and funded by Congress, NED is governed by an independent, bipartisan board of directors. Its core budget in FY 2005 was $74.02 million. Funds are distributed... to its four core institutes, and... among several other democracy-promoting organizations, as well as smaller indigenous groups across the globe...
"National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)... helped monitor the January 25, 2006, Palestinian elections. NDI's activities take place before and after elections, and include education campaigns, debate organization, and encouragement of women's participation in the political process...
"International Republican Institute (IRI)... is the Republican counterpart to NDI... [It] is active in approximately sixty countries.
"Center for Independent Private Enterprise (CIPE)... focuses on 'market-oriented reform' as the path to democracy... CIPE provides grants and direct assistance to indigenous organizations -- primarily business associations and chambers of commerce -- to improve private and public sector governance...
"American Center for International Labor Solidarity ("Solidarity Center")... is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)... The Solidarity Center is primarily concerned with building and supporting democratic trade unions, educating workers about collective bargaining, accountability, and health safety...
"International Foundation for Election Systems... focuses on providing technical assistance in four main areas: elections; rule of law, often working with a country's judiciary; civil society; and governance at the parliamentary—and more recently—local levels.
"Freedom House... one of the oldest democracy-promoting organizations in the United States... is well known for its annual survey "Freedom in the World,"... Freedom House has several field offices and also provides small grants in their efforts to promote human rights and advocate press freedom...
"Eurasia Foundation (EF)... was started in 1992 to aid nations of the former Soviet Union. EF provides approximately 600 grants each year for programs throughout the region, including student loans in Russia and professional business programs in Belarus...
"Carter Center... focuses on conflict resolution and human rights... Citing reasons of sovereignty, it will only enter a country if it is welcomed by the major political powers...
"Open Society Institute (OSI) and the Soros foundations network... does not see itself as a democracy-promoting organization, but does pursue activities that contribute to this goal. The only completely privately funded institution on this list... [it] operates as a network of foundations in various countries, where the boards and employees are nationals, focusing on human rights and public health, as well as election-monitoring and advocating government accountability and transparency."
See:
- Media Control in Russia
- Who is enforcing this law?
- So much for democratization
- Civil Society in Russia
- Civil Society and Cultural Diffusion
- Much ado about NGOs
- Establishment and critics
Labels: concepts, globalization, pedagogy, theory
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:23 AM
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