The book focuses on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), examples include Amnesty International and Oxfam. Known also as charities, the NGO sector is very diverse in terms of organisational types and forms. Champions of human rights accountability and experts in disaster management, NGOs give a voice to and provide services to those unable to speak for themselves. They are stereotypically seen the good guys, but what Domenico’s book does is showing how even the good guys can be turn into a bad one. There is a pressing need to apply the same level of level of accountability and regulation to all organisations, whether these are profit or non-profit organisations, no matter how noble their goals are.
The book provides an examination of the accountability issues and the problems of regulating NGOs through self-regulation, that is voluntary norms defined by NGOs for NGOs to deal with their accountability. Particularly, it investigates the reasons for self-regulatory failures and the measures that can be put in place to improve NGO regulation and accountability. The core argument of the book is that self-regulation is not a panacea for issues relating to NGO accountability. Rather, it advocates for, as well as showing, how self-regulation should be reformed. Simultaneously, it claims that self-regulation should be complemented with, rather than simply replaced by new and emerging accountability routes. The book focuses on methods of self-regulation for NGOs in response to prominent scandals that revealed problems with their accountability in recent years, like the Mafia Capitale scandal in Italy, the Oxfam GB scandal in Haiti, and allegations of human rights abuse against the WWF in Cameroon.
NGOs and the Law has been presented at several events to date, including one organised by the Federal University of Goiás (UFG, Brazil) and the State University of Goiás (UEG, Brazil). At that event, Prof. João da Cruz Gonçalves Neto (UFG, Brazil) served as a respondent, and Prof. Ulisses Terto Neto (UEG, Brazil & UFG, Brazil) served as the chair. A video of the event is available on YouTube, featuring discussions in both English and Portuguese. Furthermore, the book has been debated by Prof. Oonagh Breen (University College Dublin, Ireland) and Prof. Angela Crack (University of Portsmouth, UK), two leading academic authorities who have published extensively on NGO self-regulation. They acted as discussants at the Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) Book Club event focused on Domenico’s book. Mayumi Fuchi (University of Birmingham, UK) acted as a moderator in this event.
Dr Jonh Picton (University of Manchester), charity law expert, has reviewed Domenico’s book for the Voluntary Sector Review (Bristol University Press). He wrote:
“(…) the book is a very valuable one. Despite their enormous international significance, the regulation of NGOs, as they work and operate internationally, has not before been the subject of an extended legal study. Carolei’s important analysis corrects that omission.”
Beyond the NGO studies community, the book has also garnered appreciation from international lawyers, receiving an endorsement from Prof. Giuseppe Nesi (University of Trento), member of the UN International Law Commission:
“This book provides an excellent contribution to a topic that has been dealt several times in different environments in recent years. However, the volume by Domenico Carolei fills a gap since through an in-depth analysis, that is the result of a serious research, it offers an all-encompassing picture of the main legal issues regarding accountability of non-governmental organisations, increasingly relevant and sometime indispensable actors in internal as well as international affairs. The overall message is that law, in all its manifestations, matters when accountability is at stake; if both States and NGOs take this message without reservations, they will improve their mutual relations and shape a constructive and more solid role of NGOs in both national and international environment.”