A consensual means approach to cooperation involving nongovernmental organizations, principled issues, and sovereign actors: A case study of southern national protected areas

Principled issues are a type of norm that guide behavior on topics traditionally referred to as low politics. Nongovernmental mental organizations (NGOs) typically advocate states' integration of principled issues into their domestic and international policies. Several theories examine how NGOs interact with states at the international level, but none explain systematically how a domestic or international NGO can achieve governmental cooperation to integrate a principled issue. An NGO can promote an agreement in which the government and NGO have diverse motivations for pursuing the same goal. This is called consensual means cooperation, because the cooperative act serves as a means to diverse goals. This dissertation uses NGO involvement in establishing protected areas as a case to show how NGOs obtain short-term enactment of a principled issue without the government accepting the principled issue itself. Surveys returned by NGO personnel involved in establishing protected areas in southern nations revealed a pattern in which NGOs' primary motivation is usually the biodiversity protection principled issue, while the government's motivation varies between principled issues, socioeconomic issues, and political motivations. The surveys also reveal a pattern in which NGOs present the government with non-principled issue motivations to obtain the government's cooperation. A consensual means style of cooperation brings about quick protection of a principled issue, but at the cost of a less stable cooperative act than one in which all actors share the motivations for pursuing the act.