Globalization Of Ideas: The Carnegie Council On Ethics And International Affairs As A Case

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have grown significantly both in numbers and scope over the past twenty years, especially since the conclusion of the Cold War in the late 1980s. This dissertation seeks to examine the roles NGOs play in shaping world politics through a constructivist lens by focusing on an American-based education NGO---The Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs (CCEIA). CCEIA, a small NGO, is becoming involved increasingly in the agenda-setting and debate for the emergence of a global governance system characterized by international norms and rules that are expected to ensure peace, justice and sustainable development across the globe. Taking on the core propositions of constructivism which has recently gained currency in international relations (IR) theory as a starting point, this in-depth case study is to explore how NGOs could shape and affect the process of ideational social construction of world reality and the possibility of systemic transformation of world structure in a world that is becoming increasingly globalized and interdependent. To that end, this study examines how a specific NGO--CCEIA-- has engaged itself in a range of public and educational activities and programs to achieve its self-defined mission. As the world seems to rely, to an increasing degree, on international norms and rules to cope with complex global issues, developmental issues and international security issues, non-state actors including NGOs are expected to play a significant role in shaping the formation and idealization of these norm and rules by identifying new issues and new interests, cultivating new identities, creating and internationalizing ideas, and intensifying discussion and debate across the globe.