POLINGO maps, analyses and theorizes the contribution of informal interpersonal networks to shaping the policies and programmes of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) in the international governance of crisis areas, particularly post-war states. By accompanying, complementing or even contradicting institutional linkages between state and non-state agencies, interpersonal networks transcend the conventional divide between governmental and non-governmental organisations. Since INGOs predominantly rely on their reputations as independent, disinterested and impartial to be able to work in post-war states, these closely knit interpersonal networks between state and non-state institutions raise questions regarding the sources and construction of legitimate INGO authority and credibility in global governance. Despite the ubiquity of such informal interpersonal networks, there has not been any systematic attempt to study their role in shaping, enabling, or transcending institutional structures and means of cooperation in the global governance of post-war states. POLINGO addresses this gap by combining a longitudinal Social Network Analysis (SNA) with two in-depth qualitative case studies. The project breaks new ground theoretically and empirically by studying the institutional and interpersonal interfaces between non-state and state-based forms of power as summarized in the following overarching research question: How do interpersonal networks between state- and non-state agencies shape INGO practices and positions in the global governance of post-war states?
The discussion on the role, independence, and legitimacy of INGOs in global governance is not new, but the work of INGOs in post-war and transition states has in recent years been met with intensified government pushbacks amidst allegations of political interference in the domestic affairs of states. This includes government prohibitions and restrictions of the work of INGOs and NGOs in Ethiopia, Egypt, China, Myanmar, and Turkey, with high-profile controversies accompanying the Maidan protests of 2013 or leading to the expulsion of staff of the German Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, a political foundation specializing in democracy promotion, and others from Egypt during the Arab Spring protests. INGOs are increasingly voicing concerns regarding the shrinking political space for their engagement. In the EU, the stand-off between the Open Society Foundation and its benefactor George Soros and the Hungarian government under Victor Orbán not only illustrates the contradicting normative assessments of this type of INGO involvement in sovereign states, but also the extent to which personal or interpersonal (in addition to institutional) linkages shape the relationship between state and non-state actors and pertinent criticisms.
Existing research on INGO independence and state-society relationships in INGO countries of origin focuses on formal, largely institutional patterns of cooperation and exchange between these two sectors, including legal frameworks, funding regimes, agenda-setting, advocacy, and consultancy. The project approaches the question of state-society relations and INGO independence through the lens of (informal) interpersonal networks that connect rather than separate the governmental and non-governmental spheres in INGO countries of origin. It explores recent developments in social network analysis across several disciplines, including political science, social anthropology, sociology, and business studies with a view to employing network methods for a systematic assessment of interpersonal ties across the governmental and non-governmental sphere and of their implications for INGO independence in global governance.
POLINGO’s first research objective (RO 1) is to generate new knowledge about the role of interpersonal networks in global governance. The second research objective (RO2) is to challenge traditional assumptions and gain new knowledge regarding the division between state-based and non-state forms of legitimacy and authority. The project will systematically add and address the crucial dimension of interpersonal networks to the otherwise predominantly institutionalist analysis of global governance. To this end, POLINGO develops a new analytical framework that employs a mixed-methods approach to systematising and tracing interpersonal actor networks that span the macro (inter-organizational), meso (INGO), and micro (interpersonal) levels of the global governance of post-war areas.
