The NGO Phenomenon:

A Guide to Web Resources

Anthony M. Angiletta
Morrison Curator
for the Social Sciences
Updated 17 February
2009
 IGOs & NGOs, 1900-2000

52415
47098

IGOs
NGOs

9521
6743 7350

289
1909 1933 1979 2000 2005
Extant Human Rights INGOs by Founding
Date

30
77
1839-1945
1945-1975
1975-1998
312
 NGOs as Keyword in WorldCat by
Imprint Date

2000
2462
1500 1271

1000
Citations
500 384

0 46
0
1800- 1940- 1980- 1990- 2000-
1940 1979 1989 1999 2005
 NGOs as keywords in 6 Social Sciences Indexes:
SSCI, World PolSciAbs, EconLit, Sociol.Abs, PAIS, IntlBibliogSocScis

5687

3138

118 212

1940/1979 1980/1989 1990/1999 2000/2006

 NGOs: Definition and
Classification
• World Bank categorization and good art
• Wikipedia definition and treatment
• Non-governmental Organizations Resea
(Duke University site; excellent
resource)
 American Context
•Associations, Associationism,
Tocqueville
--Voluntarism and voluntary
associations
-->2,000,000 voluntary assocs.
in US

•Interest groups and Interest Group

Liberalism: Grant McConnell, Ted
Lowi, Almond & Powell
 International Context
• Term "non-governmental organization (NGO)"
first used at founding of United Nations in 1945
• Historical precedents: medieval charities and
alms-giving, sectarian & secular welfare
associations
• 1775 Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the
Abolition of Slavery > abolition of slave
trade,1841
• 1828 American Peace Society > 425 peace
societies in 1900 and Hague Conferences
 International Context (cont.)
• International Comm. of Red Cross
• Transnational groups:
--International Federation of Tobacco
Workers, 1876 > International
Federation of Trade Unions, 1901
--Second or Socialist International, 1889
--Women’s suffrage movement, 1861 –
19th Amendment anecdote on
International Rotarians and Kiwanis
• Explanatory Theories: functionalism
--David Mitrany, A Working Peace
System, 1943
--Ernst Haas, Beyond the Nation-State,
 Globalization, Human Rights &
Sustainable Development
• India: >1,000,000 grass-roots organizations
• Russia: . 65,000 since 1991
• WWF/WFN: 5,000,000 members
• Amnesty Int’l & FOE: each >1,000,000
members
• Greenpeace: 2,500,000 members
• International civil society and governance
 Stanford-only resources
•Selected full-text databases”

--JSTOR
--Annual Reviews,
--Project Muse
--Academic Universe
--Policy File
--CIAO
--SourceOECD
 Stanford-only resources
(cont’d)
Selected citation indexes
• --Illumina (PAIS International, Sociological
Abstracts, World Political Science Abstracts,
Environmental Sciences and Pollution Mgmt)
• EBSCO (Academic Source Premier, EconLit,
Environmental Issues & Policy Index,
Agricola)
• Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)
• African Studies Database
• Women’s Resources International or
Contemporary Women's Issues
 Stanford-only Resources (cont.)

• Official Publications and Documents indexes

--international: AccessUN , AccessUNDP
--United States: Congressional Universe,
Statistical Universe
Beyond Stanford-only
sources: WWW
• UN DPI
----UN DESA/NGO Section Home Page
•   UN Directory of NGOs
• Human Rights and Humanitarian links
--
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/ngolinks.html
--http://www.asil.org/resource/humrts1.htm

--UN ReliefWeb
--http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf
Beyond Stanford-only
sources:WWW (cont.)
Nonprofit and Non-Governmental Organizations by Regio
 
World Bank Poverty web: NGOs
 
WWW Virtual Library…NGOs

One World organization

 
 Beyond Stanford-only
sources: WWW
Sustainable Development
 
 Sustainable development NGOs

•Sustainable development links

http://www.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/sustainlinks

NGOs at UN Commission for Sustainable

Development
http://www.igc.apc.org/habitat/csdngo/index.html

 
Beyond Stanford-only
sources: WWW
• Global Policy Forum NGO sites
--
http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/research.htm
--http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/index.htm
--
http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/resource/bibliog.htm
 
• Conference of NGOs (CONGO)
--http://www.ngocongo.org/index.php

• UN NGO Liaison system

--http://www.un-ngls.org/index.html
Beyond Stanford-only
sources: Examples of WWW
Country-specific sites
• Palestine
--Palestinian NGO Network
• East Timor
--
FONGTIL - THE EAST TIMOR NGO FORUM

• South Africa
--SANGONeT
• Guyana
--NGO Forum of Guyana