ABSTRACT
Since the end of bipolarity, non-state actors have become objects of interest for international relations theorists. With their concept of “governance without government,” Rosenau and Czempiel were among the first to stress the “growing importance of societies and the degree of interdependence between them” (Rosenau and Czempiel 1992: 270). Former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali stated that civil society organizations are “a basic form of popular representation in the present-day world. Their participation in international relations is, in a way, a guarantee of the political legitimacy of those international organizations” (cited in Baker 2002: 122). Recently, the Cardoso Report, named after Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Chair of the Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations-Civil Society Relations, analyzed the growing capacity and influence of non-state actors in international relations and the deficits of democracy in global governance (United Nations 2004). International dialogue forums are thus increasingly seen as mutating into arcane circles of experts who are remote from the aspirations and concerns of ordinary people at the grassroots level. To what extent do Asia-Europe relations fit this state of affairs and what has been done to give a greater voice to civil society? Who speaks for civil society in Asia-Europe relations? What can be said about the legitimacy of these representatives of civil society?
