ABSTRACT
The ever-increasing influence of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the very formulation of global standards and public policies, rather than only their role as contesters, promoters or implementers of global norms, stands out as one of the most remarkable features of the changing nature of global politics in the early twenty-first century.1 In this chapter, I will discuss one particular facet of the private authority embodied by CSOs in international politics (Cutler et al. 1999; Hall and Biersteker 2002; Knill and Lehmkuhl 2002; Ruggie 2004): representational power. Although new structures of global governance involving private actors (not for profit and for profit) have come under particular scrutiny in terms of their legitimacy and accountability, the critical exploration of representational power is often neglected. Therefore, I focus on the politics of representation and the critical role that CSOs occupy in the representation of the interests and fates of vulnerable and weak population groups. As I will argue, it is particularly population groups whose status as fully fledged citizens is questioned – such as children – that see their interests, needs and rights in many cases being misrepresented in advocacy practices of globally operating CSOs (Hahn and Holzscheiter 2005).
