Journeying through Palau, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines, Cristina Balboa unearths fascinating insights into the nongovernmental politics of conservation. Along the way, with striking originality, she offers an incisive theory to explain why transnational NGOs so often fail to produce lasting, effective local reforms, and why powerful local NGOs so often struggle to extend their influence into the international realm.
Peter Dauvergne, Professor of International Relations, University of British Columbia; author of Environmentalism of the Rich
How to work effectively across scales—how to integrate the local, the national, and the global in political strategy—is one of the great puzzles in contemporary world politics. This book combines conceptual innovation and rich case studies to suggest important ways forward on this crucial issue.
Jan Aart Scholte, University of Gothenburg and University of Duisburg-Essen
Many NGOs aim to “scale up” globally while staying relevant locally, yet often struggle to succeed. Balboa has provided a guide for how to think about organizations' authority—legitimated power—when working both locally and globally. Required reading for the thoughtful NGO practitioner aspiring to greater mission effectiveness.
Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Director, Transnational NGO Initiative, Syracuse University
Balboa skillfully weaves together diverse literature from international relations, nonprofit management, and public administration to generate new insights for scholarship and practice on a challenge facing many environmental NGOs: how to successfully respond to pressures for institutional growth.
Mary Kay Gugerty, Evans School of Public Policy & Management, University of Washington
As it is, this book is a wonderful addition to the literature on environmental NGOs. It asks a question central to the field and answers it clearly and with substantial evidence. As I indicated, beyond scholars in various social science disciplines, her book will be of great interest to NGO practitioners, too. The case studies are also teacherfriendly: educators can easily use one or two of them as a reading assignment to help students work through abstract theoretical concepts like authority, legitimacy, or accountability.
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