World Culture in the World Polity

International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) are the topic of John Boli and George M. Thomas's article, "World Culture in the World Polity: A Century of International Non-Governmental Organization." Boli and Thomas state that the goal of INGOs is to spread 'progress' throughout the world by ways of transportation and technological advances. The five main ideals of INGOS are universalism, individualism, rational voluntaristic authority, human purposes of rationalizing progress and world citizenship. Under universalism, Boli and Thomas write that, "INGOs embody remains culturally autonomous because INGOs operate in the interstices of this decentralized structure," (Boli and Thomas, 278). This theme relates back to "The End of the Nation State," by drawing parallels to globalization instead of individual nations. It also ties into the individualism goals of INGOs by explaining that different individuals all around the world help to make up humanity as a whole, which is who they aim to help. Overall, the goals of INGO are to try and protect, if not change humanity in some way.