Agenda Setting in the OECD - NGOs influence on OECD's Development Agenda

Sammanfattning: The proliferation of NGOs with an international agenda has been one of the most profound trends in international relations during the past years. Their role in the outcome of international politics has however been insufficiently theorized. The aim of this research was to fill this gap by explain how and under what conditions NGOs were able to influence the agenda of OECD in development policies. The empirical focus of this study is on the two international meeting that were held in 2005 and 2008, organized by OECD development committee, DAC. The method used in this study is process tracing (studying causes that led to an outcome). The employment of the method evidently generates an analytical framework constituted of framing processes and political opportunity theory. It was concluded that NGOs by arranging several meetings were able produce joint action frames, hence creating a broader alignment for their claims. The notion of “democratic ownership” was developed to a master frame, generating a consensus among NGOs and increasing their credibility among the members of DAC. Their frames would however not been legitimized if the sufficient political opportunities were not created. The analysis of political opportunity concluded that NGOs were able to legitimize their frames by gaining access to the OECD, through the creation of DAC’s Advisory Group. The increased access was the result of the internal restructuring of the OECD which generated a more inclusive partnership towards non-members. The political alignment with some of DAC’s member-states further enhanced NGOs credibility in order to legitimize their frames in the agenda of DAC.