That shift is a result of the growing complexity of the international agenda, of a communications revolution that has enabled NGOs to mobilize public opinion and of the reduced ambitions of governments everywhere since the end of the Cold War. Other scholars are skeptical of such far-reaching claims. They have not supplanted them. Still, even the skeptics concede that the balance of power between NGOs and governments has changed. Whether the increasing influence of NGOs is a good or bad development, however, is the subject of intense debate.
Some people argue that they do both.
Clearly, NGOs have chalked up their share of successes. In 1991, for instance, when the United Nations was negotiating a settlement of El Salvador's long civil war, the Ford Foundation ended up financing the peace initiative. Other groups have focused on building links between adversaries. The Search for Common Ground, for example, took a U.S. wrestling team to Tehran, Iran, in February and is now planning an exchange of museum exhibitions. The Consensus Building Institute specializes in overcoming mistrust between environmental NGOs and government ministers by bringing them together informally.