ABSTRACT
There has been a tremendous growth in the number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) participating in international negotiations and conferences about environmental issues during the last two decades. Most scholars agree that NGOs do make a difference in global environmental politics (e.g. Chatterjee and Finger, 1994; Princen and Finger, 1994; Wapner, 1996; Raustiala, 2001), but it is contestable to what extent their efforts have actually affected international negotiation outcomes and domestic implementation of commitments. Little of the literature on NGOs has addressed what actual influence they have on policy outcomes. Studies that have addressed this question have often confused influence with NGO access, activities or resources in assessing policy outcomes (Betsill and Corell, 2001). 2 Thus, a systematic approach to measuring and analysing NGO influence has been called for (Betsill and Corell, 2001).
