Description
The paper problematises the role of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), questioning their presumed status as normative agents in international politics. It argues that large INGOs are not immune to neoliberal logics of competition that subsequently diminishes political agency of their staff. Drawing on international ethics, political theory and management studies literatures, the paper presents an interdisciplinary argument on the ways meaning can be created in international politics and international institutions, questioning the source of meaning of the shared experiences that are inherently international. The paper starts with an account of neoliberal logics as an ontological orientation where it is accepted that no alterative exist to current social reality, drawing on literature by Mark Fisher and William Davies. It problematises the role of INGOs in creating parameters for collective responsibility and prospects of social development of meaning, within inherently neoliberal institutional framework. While the paper is limited in its ability to provide specific solutions, it nevertheless draws on feminist pragmatism, particularly social ethics of Jane Addams, to suggest an alternative imagining of normative practices in INGOs through an ongoing renewal of normative and political commitments.
