Empirical tests of world society theory routinely analyze the effects of country-level linkages to international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) on countries’ policies and practices. Analysts regard INGOs as “conveyor belts” that transport cultural models and scripts to countries around the globe. We modify this mechanistic interpretation by shifting focus to the broader institutional and cultural environments in which INGOs operate. Using data for an unbalanced panel of 126 countries between 1975 and 2010, we examine the effect of INGO linkages on the distribution of political power by gender and socioeconomic status. We find that INGOs are much stronger predictors of political equality for women than for the poor, and we argue that these differential effects reflect broader world-cultural conditions. Women’s rights are highly institutionalized in world society, which enhances the effectiveness of INGOs. Socioeconomic rights discourses, conversely, are comparatively less institutionalized and more contested, especially following the neoliberal turn.

中文翻译：

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妇女和穷人的政治平等：评估世界社会的影响和局限，1975-2010

世界社会理论的实证检验通常分析国家层面与国际非政府组织 (INGO) 的联系对国家政策和实践的影响。分析人士将国际非政府组织视为将文化模型和脚本传输到全球各国的“传送带”。我们通过将重点转移到 INGO 运营所在的更广泛的制度和文化环境来修改这种机制解释。我们使用 1975 年至 2010 年间由 126 个国家组成的不平衡小组的数据，研究了 INGO 联系对按性别和社会经济地位划分的政治权力分配的影响。我们发现国际非政府组织比穷人更能预测女性的政治平等，我们认为这些不同的影响反映了更广泛的世界文化条件。妇女权利在世界社会高度制度化，这提高了国际非政府组织的效力。相反，社会经济权利的话语相对较少制度化且更具争议性，尤其是在新自由主义转向之后。