Discourse and Regulation Failures: The Ambivalent Influence of NGOs on Political Organizations

33 Pages Posted: 21 Jan 2014

See all articles by Matthias Georg Will

Matthias Georg Will

Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Ingo Pies

Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg

Date Written: January 20, 2014

Abstract

In the last decades, NGOs have become an important participant in the work of political organizations (e.g., national authorities, the EU or the UN). This development brings many opportunities and also some challenges, including discourse failure which is one of the topics discussed in this paper. We present a case study that illustrates the interdependence of discourse failure and regulations failure. We conclude that discourse failure is frequently not merely an accidental by-product, but rather, a non-intended consequence of deliberate NGOs’ campaigns. We make particular note of probable discourse failure when campaigns attempt to deal with complex issues in an environment rife with wide-spread prejudices and where the NGO’s work is transparent. In this situation, regulation failure may be consequent upon discourse failure. We present collectively binding commitments for NGOs and binding services enforced by political organizations to prevent discourse failure. In conclusion, we argue that the field of political economy can benefit from this challenging environment if it systematically researches the interdependencies between discourses and regulations.

Keywords: Discourse Failure, Regulation Failure, NGO, Political Organizations, National Authorities, EU, UN, Self-Commitments, Political Economy

JEL Classification: D72, D73, D74, D78, L31

Suggested Citation

Will, Matthias Georg and Pies, Ingo, Discourse and Regulation Failures: The Ambivalent Influence of NGOs on Political Organizations (January 20, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2382241 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2382241

Matthias Georg Will (Contact Author)

Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration ( email )

Germany

Ingo Pies

Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg ( email )

Grosse Steinstrasse 73
Halle/Saale, DE Saxony-Anhalt 06108
Germany
+49 0 345 55 23420 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://ethik.wiwi.uni-halle.de/2166_199920/2166_199912/

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