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2:10 pm Symposia #2 Maxwell Auditorium, first floor Maxwell Hall 300,000 and Counting: Are Transnational NGOs Changing the World? Questions Globalization and democratization have unleashed a plethora of cross-national challenges and opportunities unimaginable only a few decades ago. From the flow of illegal drugs across the globe to the emergence of transboundary environmental crises and health epidemics (such as AIDS and SARS) to international terrorism and the challenges of managing an increasingly integrated global economy, the state system that has dominated international politics for over two centuries has lost its capacity to unilaterally deal with these problems on behalf of its citizenry. Increasingly stepping into this void is a new, evolving, and loosely structured set of transnational non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—some 300,000 and counting. Among such organizations are the International Red Cross, Greenpeace, the World Social Forum, Oxfam, the Third World Network, Amnesty International, the Ford Foundation, Consumers Union, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, and the World Council of Churches. These organizations appear to share a number of characteristics in common. All function independently of government control. None is run for commercial profit. Each reaches across borders to attract members and supporters motivated by a particular cause or area of concern that the organization embraces as its reason to exist. Each also operates across borders to impact public causes in other countries or globally, and many have a transnational leadership as well. Some have suggested that these transnational NGOs are engaged in building the foundations for a global civil society. (1) We all know that transnational NGOs create benefits. In what way might they also create costs? (2) Do transnational NGOs encourage the process of globalization? Is this a good or a bad thing? (3) Where does the funding for transnational NGOs come from? Should we be worried about these sources of funding and their possible effects on what these organizations can do? (5) Transnational NGOs appear to have an impact on public policy. Who elected them for such a role; to whom are they accountable?