ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out a different approach, constructing a typology of non-governmental organizations (NGO) across four categories of organisation: neoliberal, embedded, transformative and revolutionary. It examines the range of NGOs that engage with the global trade system and, by disaggregating across the typology, to understand how each type seeks to exert influence within international trade politics. The chapter explores how some NGOs are becoming part of the fabric of trade governance rather than acting upon it from an external, independent position. It identifies NGOs that are becoming quasi-official parts of the trade governance landscape, tasked and funded by states to perform specific functions that enable trade governance to proceed more smoothly. The chapter reviews the literature on NGOs in the global trade system and the insights that have been generated therein. NGOs are often assumed to be conduits for democracy and social justice, representing the concerns of global citizens and communicating these to those in power.
