States can no longer bethought of as the hard billiard balls of international relations. Internationalization has altered the concept of sovereignty. Their actions are now much more shaped by economic pressures, information flows, and population movements. For States, too, globalization is here to stay. Other actors have entered both the domestic and the international scenes.
Civil society is one.
The private sector is another. Many NGOs operate across national boundaries. At the present time, the UN system could never hope to operate properly without the assistance of NGOs. Not to mention normative thinking and advocacy. NGOs have acquired access into the UN at different levels, and participate in many of its discussions.