When do environmental NGOs work? A test of the conditional effectiveness of environmental advocacy

Abstract

Under what conditions does environmental non-governmental (NGO) advocacy affect environmental outcomes? We build on earlier theoretical work and contend that the influence of environmental NGO advocacy is conditioned on (a) the ability of local citizens to participate in the advocacy and (b) the vulnerability of the state to external pressure. Without these conditions, environmental NGO advocacy alone will not improve environmental conditions. Using a global dataset of environmental NGO advocacy and focusing on reductions in CO2 emissions, we evaluate the implications of this argument in a global sample of countries from 1975–2010. We find much support for our argument among non-OECD countries.