SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. International Studies
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1604680
Engaging non-governmental organizations in global climate governance: a systematic review of journal publications from 2014-2024
Provisionally accepted
- National University of Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia
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Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a key role in climate governance, yet a systematic overview of their engagement at the global scale remains limited. This study aims to address this gap by systematically reviewing 40 empirical studies on NGO involvement in global climate governance. The principal findings of this research are that (1) most studies appeared in environment-focused and governance-related journals, covering less than a decade; (2) theoretical frameworks, predominantly materialist, underpinned most analyses; (3) qualitative methods, especially case studies, prevailed over quantitative approaches; (4) environmental and social NGOs were central actors, mainly engaged in policy option-identification and formulation; (5) both inside and outside strategies were widely used, while entrepreneurial strategies received less attention; and (6) organizational factors were more prevalent than state-or international-level dynamics in shaping NGO engagement. This study offers insights into how NGOs participate in global climate governance and suggests implications for future research, policymaking, and practice.
Keywords: NGOs, global climate governance, Climate Change, ROL, strategy, Systematic review
Received: 02 Apr 2025; Accepted: 17 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 LI. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: ZHIDAN LI, p116857@siswa.ukm.edu.my
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