Wendy H. Wong - Internal Affairs: How the Structure of NGOs Transforms Human Rights

INTERNAL AFFAIRS

How the Structure of NGOs Transforms Human Rights

WENDY WONG

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS

ITHACA AND LONDON

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction: Internal Affairs and External Influence

1. Salience in Human Rights

2. The Importance of Organizational Structure

3. Amnesty International: The NGO That Made Human Rights Important

4. Other Models of Advocating Change

5. Using Campaigns to Examine Organizational and Ideational Salience

Conclusion

Notes

References

This book began in a formative time in my career and has benefitted from years of research, revision, and discussion. The research would not have been possible without generous financial support from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research; the Connaught Start-up Fund at the University of Toronto; the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation; the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies at the University of California, San Diego; and the Rohr Chair for Pacific and International Relations at the University of California, San Diego. Many thanks to the Department of Political Science and the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto for funding a book workshop, from which I gained invaluable comments. I also thank Fiona Bolt and Heather Faulkner for granting me access to files at Amnesty Internationals International Secretariat.

I was very fortunate to have the scholarly support of so many people as my ideas developed on this project, and more important, those who were willing to read chapters, give advice, and bring new perspectives to the research. First among these individuals is my mentor, friend, and colleague David Lake. David has always been willing to read something again, freely offer guidance, and somehow always finds new ways to improve what I have written. For his patience, kindness, and willingness to teach, I will forever be indebted, and I hope that indeed, I will one day be able to pay it forward. To the nonUniversity of Toronto participants of the book workshop that took place during April 2010Michael Barnett, Miles Kahler, Jim RonI am thankful for the candid feedback on the manuscript and the publishing process, and know that this final version is better for it. To Miles I am especially happy that after so many years, the encouragement and snappy exchanges keep coming. I am also grateful to my colleagues, Emanuel Adler, Steven Bernstein, Matt Hoffmann, Lou Pauly, and Joe Wong, who made thoughtful suggestions throughout and taught me how to pitch a book project and write a book. I hope that this iteration has justly incorporated your incisive comments. I also thank David Cameron, for his support as department chair. A special thanks goes to Janice Stein, who has made sure that I have had the tools to finish this project from the first day I arrived in Toronto.

I thank Roger Haydon, my editor, for his support throughout this process. From our very first meeting in New York, he was helpful, thoughtful, and encouraging. His suggestions have helped me transform a narrow PhD project into a much broader research agenda.

Several Toronto colleagues and I formed a writing group during the most fervent stages of writing, and I will always look back fondly at the lively exchanges at Bar Mercurio and LEspresso with Nancy Bertoldi, Antoinette Handley, Lilach Gilady, and Phil Triadafilopoulos. To Lilach especially, I thank you for helping iron out the awkward parts before general viewing. A special thanks to Andy Paras as well, for her enthusiasm about the project, and her willingness to comment on any and all parts of the book. And, of course, I am indebted to Lindsay Heger and Danielle Jung, who were part of the original UCSD writing group, for their friendship and collaboration. I also thank Cliff Bob, Charli Carpenter, Joe Carens, Peter Gourevitch, Todd Hall, Audie Klotz, Catherine Lu, Steve Saideman, Hans Peter Schmitz, Sarah Stroup, David Welch, and Nick Weller for reading earlier and later versions of this argument, and their generous encouragement. Helen Yanacopulos, I cannot thank you enough for making my final research trip to London memorable and productive. Thank you to Saleha Ali, for your incomparable organizing and research skills.

This project would not have been possible without the help of all of the human rights activists with whom I spoke. I am still in awe about the number of people who were willing to spend an houroften moretalking to me about their organizations and their work, and I am grateful for their time and graciousness. Special thanks go to Avril Benoit for her willingness to network me into Mdecins sans Frontires; Joe Saunders at Human Rights Watch for answering all of my questions beyond wildest expectation; and Andrew Blane, Curt Goering, and Margo Picken, all of whom brainstormed with me about who to interview in Amnesty and beyond. I also thank Scott Harrison and Ellen Moore, whose initial support of my research gave me the confidence and materials to proceed, and their hospitality when I visited Ned.

I have also been fortunate to have hugely supportive friends, who bring laughter, warmth, and levity to my life. In no particular order, big thanks to Fonna Forman-Barzilai, Cullen Hendrix, Nancy Gilson, Paul Frymer, Emily Matthews, Lissa Rogers, Idean Salehyan, Jennifer Thai, Oliva Lopez, Sean Hawkins, Shaheen Haji, Andrew Poe, Ron Levi, Lee Ann Fujii, Steph Haggard, Cristina Badescu, Heather Smith, Mary Reid, Ruth Marshall, Matt Light, Christian Breunig, Jennifer Tackett, and Wil Kurth.

Finally, I would like to thank my family. I am grateful for my parents, Boon and Carrie, whose excitement about the book has been the palpable fuel to finish. Thank you for your advice, love, and cheerleading. Eileen, I appreciate your courage to make forays into social science to be able to understand my work better, and for proofing the entire book. I am also touched by the support that Mam, Maria, and Irene have expressed, demanding updates on the progress of the book in our weekly calls. And finally, to Theo, for reading every last word of this version and others, and making sure that I balanced work and life as I finished. You have taught me, at least in our case, the importance of decentralizing some aspects of agenda setting.