Campus Notes

Sarah Stroup
Middlebury Associate Professor of Political Science Sarah Stroup.

There are tens of thousands of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) active in global politics, but they are not created equal. Most of them toil in obscurity, but a few have emerged as “leading INGOs” that command deference from states, corporations, the public, and their peers. Yet more authority does not necessarily mean more influence for INGOs. Middlebury Political Science professor Sarah Stroup and her co-author Wendy Wong argue that, in order to retain their authority, INGOs such as Greenpeace, Oxfam, and Amnesty refrain from expressing radical opinions that might damage their long-term reputation.