ABSTRACT
The successes of NGOs in challenging the exclusive right of states to govern the international system have produced significant policy changes and a revised political landscape. NGOs and civil society organizations (CSOs) are acknowledged and often consulted by international organizations in a wide range of policy fields, notably development, relief, environment, and human rights. These consultations have been highly visible at the international financial institutions (IFIs)-the World Bank Group, the regional development banks, and, to a much more limited extent, the International Monetary Fund (IMF). With these successes, particularly at the World Bank, have come new challenges for the NGOs concerned, who struggle daily with issues of coordination, governance, accountability, learning, and political strategy as well as with choices about organizational priorities. The stakes are high, because civil societies are being formed and reshaped, and their global and regional links are being created in the process of their advocacy and other work. Will civil society organizations become empowering, emancipatory vehicles for influential participation in the wealth and the decisionmaking of the planet, or will they reproduce existing lines of authority and inequality?
