ABSTRACT
What constitutes non-governmental organizations? What makes an NGO an NGO, rather than a transnational corporation, a state, a warlord or insurgency? How are NGOs so readily recognizable to each other, by other actors and for researchers? International Relations (IR) research over the past decade suggests that the conventional answer – that NGOs articulate common norms through a common discourse – is insufficient. If the focus on NGO discourse is misleading, then how much NGO practice do we need to notice? And what are the most crucial NGO practices?
