| Internationally operating non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are gradually becoming more influential in international debates and policy formation regarding social and moral issues. The legitimacy of this role is often taken for granted. For several reasons (e.g. that they are mostly single issue organizations with a specific backing group that differs from the groups that are affected by their interventions, that their influence is growing, that new, electronic instruments have become available that affect the character of the NGO decisively) it is now appropriate to reconsider the issue of legitimacy of NGOs. The main questions of the program are: (1) How do NGOs and relevant third parties think about the role and legitimacy of those NGOs? (2) What (kinds of ) legal and other institutional arrangements contributing to the legitimacy of NGOs do already exist? (3) In what ways do new information and communication technologies change the activities, the positioning and the organizational structure of NGOs and in what ways do they affect their legitimacy? (4) Can traditional views on the legitimacy of NGOs and the existing institutional arrangements that contribute to the legitimacy of NGOs be enriched |
