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ngoization

The process by which women's organizations adopt professionalized, specialized structures to engage with international agencies, often prioritizing legalistic discourse over grassroots feminist activism.

2 chapters across 1 book

Social Movements and World-System Transformation (2013)Jackie Smith, Michael Goodhart, Patrick Manning, John Markoff

IGO ties (avg.) 1.47 3.50

This chapter analyzes the impact of UN global conferences on transnational women's organizations, highlighting increased Southern representation and stronger ties to international NGOs formed during conference intervals. It discusses the strategic shift towards coalition-building and professionalization ('NGOization'), the ambivalence towards engagement with inter-governmental organizations, and the tensions within the women's movement between institutional reform and radical transformation. The chapter also addresses the contradictions and inequalities exacerbated by the UN conference processes, particularly between Northern and Southern activists.

Part III: Practices and challenges in contemporary organizing across diversity

Part III examines the challenges social movements face in integrating diverse identities and overcoming hierarchies rooted in capitalist logic, highlighting issues such as gendered geographies, faith-based activism, and NGOization. It emphasizes the paradoxical effects of engagement with inter-state institutions like the UN, which have both facilitated global networking and exposed limitations in overcoming exclusionary dynamics. The chapter underscores a growing strategic maturity in movements, fostering new global spaces that nurture counter-hegemonic dialogues and elevate marginalized actors such as indigenous peoples, women, and peasants to central roles in antisystemic struggles.