World culture in the world polity: A century of international non-governmental organization

Many scholars dispute the assumptions of global neo-realism but nevertheless hesitate to conceptualize a cultural frame larger than states or nations (Czempiel and Rosenau 1992; Wendt 1992). In contrast, a world-polity approach puts the institutional character of transnational development front and center. Culture is increasingly global (Featherstone 1990; Hannerz 1987; Lechner 1989; Robertson 1992); a transnational “legal world order” operates with considerable independence from states (Berman 1988; Falk, Kratochwil, and Mendlovitz 1985; Weiss 1989); world cultural principles and institutions shape the action of states, firms, individuals, and other subunits (Boli 1993; McNeely 1995; Meyer et al. forthcoming; Strang 1990; Thomas 1994). In numerous ways, the world polity is not reducible to states, transnational corporations (TNCs), or national forces and interest groups (Mann 1986; Nettl and Robertson 1968; Thomas et al. 1987).