23.  What is in this book for non-state actors?

Civil society includes all organizations, networks, and associations between the level of the family and the level of the state, except firms. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), labor unions, and business associations are non-state actors and form subsets of civil society. Firms are excluded because they are assumed to exist to make and distribute a private profit, while civil society groups are organized to defend or advance the interests they hold in common.

The contributions of the book highlight the fact that civil society has been one of the first true transnational actors and that this group has had a critical role in shedding some light on cross borders issues. Often, non-state actors have "nudged" state actors toward agreement on cross-border cooperation. Therefore, this book and the resulting framework will be of prime interest to members of civil society who have been involved in the politics of global public goods provision but whose legitimacy in doing so has been questioned.

The book recommends some first steps to improve this situation. Its recommendations are addressed in part, to international organizations, and in part, to non-state actors. Among other things, the following reforms are emphasized:

• Creating multi-stakeholder bodies, comprised of state and non-state actors;

• Organizing "pre-meeting meetings" with non-state actors; relying on the "Arias formula", which allows invited NGOs to address UN bodies outside official sessions;

• Inviting "alternative reports" from non-state actors, to be considered alongside governmental reports, as the UN Commission on Human Rights has done;

• Supporting Amicus curiae ("friend-of-the-court") briefs from non-state actors, for example at World Trade Organization appeal hearings;

• Setting up non-state global forums, such as a World Financial Forum to debate the policies and performance of the International Monetary Fund, let us say, on a biennial basis.

[For a more detailed discussion, refer to the chapter on political globalization by Held and McGrew and the chapter on the role and legitimacy of nonstate actors by Edwards and Zadek.]