National Non-Governmental Organization’s Influence on Policy Making: Special Reference to Sri Lanka in Post-War Period

Abstract

Non-governmental organizations have become influential actors in the world of politics. NGOs are basically defined as “a non-profit entity whose members are citizens or associations of citizens of one or more countries and whose activities are determined by the collective will of its members in response to the members of the one or more communities with which the NGO cooperate”. As there are several classifications of NGOs, they can be classified as international NGOs, national NGOs, humanitarian NGOs, human rights NGOs, advocacy NGOs, regional NGOs and etc. Most of the time, national NGOs have become critical non-state actors in each and every country. According to realist theorists, nation states always strategically think to maintain their sovereignty for their survival and largely ignore those non-government actors which having no real power in international politics. Constructivists and institutionalists have spawned a variety of theories that have explanative power with regard to NGO roles in international relations which will be considered more fully. The emergence of NGOs in Sri Lanka basically started due to the causes of civil war in North. The increased refugee flows, conflict resolution and poor food and health care services encouraged humanitarian NGOs to function in Sri Lanka. Not only the international NGOs, but also the national NGOs also contributed largely for the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka. After the eradication of the conflict in Sri Lanka, national NGOs take part in influencing the policy making mechanisms to strengthen the post-war harmony. Therefore this research is mainly examine what kind of influence the national NGOs impose on the policy making process in Sri Lanka in post-war period. The main objective of this study is to find the impact of national NGOs in policy making and what kind of fields that have been influenced by NGOs to prosper better policy making mechanisms. The study has been conducted using both primary and secondary data and used qualitative data analysis techniques. Secondary data have been collected from books, journals, reports, and academic publications. Primary data have collected by interviewing diplomats, government officers, and NGO staff members through unstructured questionnaire method through convenience sampling method. The study has identified that national NGOs influence in policy making in strengthening good governance, transparency and accountability, justice, and collaborative for projects of Sri Lanka. Through different strategies they make the public aware of information and promoting essential polices to be implemented in the country.