Analysis of Challenges of Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations in Iran with Riggs Prismatic Society Theory

Today, NGOs have increasingly become important stakeholders alongside the government in development processes. With the increase of environmental problems in its various dimensions in Iran, environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have also expanded. This article tries to provide a relatively comprehensive study of the problems of these institutions in the country with a descriptive-explanatory method and analyze the results with the theory of Riggs prismatic society. Data collection was by documentary and survey in the form of a questionnaire with seven dimensions and 45 items. The results show that the most problems in relation to the institutions are with the government and public institutions and then in legal, structural, and managerial dimensions. The results of factor analysis also showed that the mentioned dimensions explain the highest amount of variance of research variables. On the other hand, the mentioned problems have also created problems within the NGOs and the Binas of the NGOs who have not been able to take steps towards their goals as they should and have also become involved in their internal issues. Considering the three main features of Riggs' theory of primitive societies (heterogeneity, formalism, and functional interference) and the problems of environmental factors, it can be said that in countries with historical weakness of democratic indicators and simple and centralized political structure, NGOs are basically pleasing. There are no structures. Therefore, laws and regulations, as well as governmental and organizational structures do not provide much support for the formation, strengthening, and development of these organizations. On the other hand, when the legal structures do not have sufficient support for the activities of the institutions and there are no clear legal channels in the process of the activities of these institutions, the exercise of taste by individuals in government agencies increases.