Nonprofit Environmental Organizations in World Politics: Domestic Structure and Transnational Relations

Nonprofit environmental organizations often have global policy goals. Consequently, they pursue transnational objectives by pressuring influential governments and international institutions. The effectiveness of this strategy as applied to nation‐states varies by domestic political structure. First, transnational actors are more likely to achieve their goals in society‐dominated rather than they are in state‐dominated countries because the former are more open to external inputs to the policy process and provide a greater number of access points. Second, ironically, transnational actors are more likely to achieve success in relatively centralized states if political access is attained. Decentralization invites a cacophony of voices in what may turn into a maelstrom of domestic politics. Relatively centralized corporatist states may prove accessible without the disadvantage of domestic turbulence.