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Abstract
INGOs’ (International Non-Governmental Organizations) transnational advocacy has achieved many phenomenal successes. A typical case is that INGOs’ radical stands can pressure governments for better policies. However, it is puzzling that INGOs have increasingly used moderation, such as an acquiescent attitude towards repression, compromise with civil society crackdown, and cooperation with non-democracies. The moderate attitudes seem to be inconsistent with INGOs’ liberal core. What motivates INGOs’ moderation? What is the cost of the contentious attitude? In my dissertation, I use three chapters to explore INGOs’ moderate responses towards governments in the current political environment, including the administrative repression of civil society organizations since the 2000s and the global pandemic since 2020. Each chapter independently addresses a specific research question.
In chapter one, I propose that high trust in INGOs from local communities tends to increase the level of civil society repression in middling countries. The interaction between local trust and regime types justifies INGOs’ detachment from local communities, a moderate gesture, in authoritarian and semi-democratic regimes. The second chapter concentrates on how individual donors respond to INGOs’ compromise with ongoing civil society repression. It infers that highlighting the advocacy activities of INGOs could help the organizations maintain private donations, a critical source of INGOs’ survival. Finally, I discuss INGO-to-government moderation in the context of the covid-19. Taking leading HROs (Human Rights INGOs) as an example, I find that these INGOs tend to shame governments in a moderate tone during the pandemic. It suggests INGOs’ flexibility when interacting with governments, who are the individual human rights violators but public health contributors in health crises.
The dissertation can help update our understanding of INGO-to-government interactions in the current political environment. Also, I expect to offer suggestions for INGOs’ survival and success in the global pushback.