How the NGOs Get Involved in Popularizing the ‘Universal Values’ in the United States

(By Ma Fangfang)

Abstract: In the process of popularizing the “universal values” in the US, NGOs played an important role and their presence can be felt everywhere, whether it is in “public diplomacy” in political area, “democratic assistance” in economic area or “competition for discourse rights” in the international opinion. By citing some instances such as the Carter Center’s “election observation”, the National Endowment for Democracy’s “democratic assistance” or the Freedom House’s “comparison of degree of freedom”, the author of this article did an in-depth study of the role the NGOs played in that process. By way of analyzing the actual strength of the NGOs in popularizing the “universal values” in the US, this author comes to have a belief that China should strengthen its NGO setup and create its own core value system. Then and only then can China not only be able to build a better peripheral and international environment, but more importantly to promote and enhance its international image.