Pressure Groups in the Global System. The Transnational Relations of Issue-Orientated Non-Governmental Organisations

Edited by Peter Willetts and published in London by Frances Pinter (Publishers) and in New York by St Martin's Press, 1982.
 
     The focus of the book is on pressure groups as political actors that are simultaneously seeking to influence the government of their home country as well as foreign governments and intergovernmental organisations. Indeed they may even from their first days see themselves as transnational actors rather than being based in a single country. One of the stimuli for producing this book was a questioning response to the statement by R. O. Keohane and J. S. Nye in Transnational Relations and World Politics that "nationalism probably hinders overt political organization across boundaries more than it hinders transnational economic activity" (p. 378). Each of the case studies outlines how it was integral to the purposes and the operations of the group that they should become a transnational actor. The editor argued that a more coherent and radical challenge to orthodox state-cenric theory was necessary.

         Contents

• Introduction, by Peter Willetts

1. Pressure Groups as Transnational Actors, by Peter Willetts
    
2. The Anti-Apartheid Movement and Racism in Southern Africa, by Abdul S. Minty
    
3. The Creation and Evolution of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, by David Gilmour
    
4. Amnesty International and Human Rights, by Martin Ennals
    
5. Oxfam and Development, by Elizabeth Stamp
    
6. Friends of the Earth and Conservation of Resources, by Tom Burke
    
7. The United Nations 'Women's Conference' and International Linkages in the Women's Movement, by Georgina Ashworth
    
8. A Governmental Response to Pressure Groups - The Case of Sweden, by Olle Dahlén
    
9. Participation of Non-Governmental Organisations in the Activities of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, by Gilbert Jaeger
    
10. The Impact of Promotional Pressure Groups on Global Politics, by Peter Willetts

• Appendix 1, The Legal Relationship between the United Nations and Non-Governmental Organisations, [containing the text of ECOSOC Resolution 1296 (XLIV) of 23 May 1968 and ECOSOC Resolution 1919 (LVIII) of 5 May 1975. Resolution 1296 (XLIV) has now been superseded by Resolution 31/96 of 25 July 1996. For this latest version of the NGO statute click here.]].
   
• Appendix 2, Non-Governmental Organisations in Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, [including the list of Category I NGOs, as of 8 July 1981. For the latest list from the United Nations, a PDF file of more than fifty pages, click here]