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Financing Empowerment? How Foreign Aid to Southern NGOs and Social Movements Undermines Grass-Roots Mobilization
Abstract
The article examines why many foreign-funded, resource- rich movements in developing countries have been unable to produce the massive mobilization found in other successful social movements with access to fewer resources. While foreign ties have brought substantial benefits to local movements, many such social movements have limited grass-roots support. The issue of external aid is at the core of an emerging research agenda in the fields of international relations, social movements, and development studies that focuses on the relationship between participatory development, democratization, and the process of transnationalization. Drawing on research work from these different fields, the article argues that by making constituency support irrelevant, internationalization through financial assistance has transformed conflict movements into consensus movements that follow an institutional, resource-dependent, non-conflictual strategy with no deep roots in the community. The article specifies the mechanisms by which foreign funding affects grass-roots mobilization. These arguments are examined with respect to evidence from around the world.
... Socialism as one of the ideologies, as opposed to laissez-faire, discourages private ownership and free enterprise (Green, 2008). It seeks to make provision services that are accessible to anyone such as free health services, social grants, pensions, free education and redistribution of income (Jalali, 2013). It puts more emphasis on the fact that the government is the one that controls the markets; therefore, the provision of social welfare and redistribution of income should be accessed by all citizens. ...
... Jalali (2013) states the private sector is sometimes called the citizen sector and it is said to employ more workers than the public sector. According to Jalali (2013), the private sector is a very diverse sector that makes up a big part of many economies and based on many different individuals, partnerships, and groups. The following entities form part of the private sector: ...
... Sole proprietorships, Partnerships, Small-and mid-sized businesses, Large corporations and multinationals, Professional and trade associations, and Trade unions (Jalali, 2013). ...
The study aims to examine the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) because there is no discussion of poverty, equality, or development today that will be complete without considering the role of NGOs. NGOs are visible, respected, and entrenched in part of many societies. The successes of the NGOs in providing health care, education, economic opportunities, and human rights advocacy to millions of people, shows diversity in terms of their organizational form, structure, and culture. The decentralization of governments and scaling back of social spending advocated by international financial institutions and large aid-donor organizations throughout the last decades have created considerable space for NGOs and made them key figures in a wide range of social sectors. The findings of the study are that NGOs range from service-oriented, community-based initiatives operating around only one project to advocacy NGOs, intermediary NGOs to developmental NGOs. The key finding is the identification of ten successful NGOs, which play a significant role in developing communities in South Africa. The study found out the structures, significance, challenges, and benefits of NGOs in developing countries. The researcher has used the conceptual approach and relied heavily on secondary sources to get the relevant literature to achieve the overall goal of the study.
... Thus, programme development by Northern NGOs should be 'turned upside down' by starting programmes from organizations that are already active on the ground, enhancing Southern leadership (van Wessel et al., 2019). However, it has also been well documented that donor support professionalizes movements, potentially causing them to lose their grassroots ties ( Jalali, 2013). This presents a challenge to local organizations, which are expected not only to be locally embedded but also to become incorporated into the global aid system. ...
... 'NGOization' refers to a process through which the formal requirements of funding agents impact the strategies of civil society actors ( Jalali, 2013), promoting processes centred on rational and results-driven 'project-logics' (Alvarez, 2009). Scholars have described how this can shift movements' priorities to focus on institutional survival and accountability towards donors instead of mobilizing their constituents (Igoe, 2003;Jalali, 2013). ...
... 'NGOization' refers to a process through which the formal requirements of funding agents impact the strategies of civil society actors ( Jalali, 2013), promoting processes centred on rational and results-driven 'project-logics' (Alvarez, 2009). Scholars have described how this can shift movements' priorities to focus on institutional survival and accountability towards donors instead of mobilizing their constituents (Igoe, 2003;Jalali, 2013). Movements depoliticize as they change focus from political work to service delivery in response to donor demands (McKie, 2019) or shift to more moderate goals and tactics (Corrigall-Brown, 2016). ...
... Here, I analyze 61,630 individuals who are nested within 43 countries, from Waves 5 and 6 of the World Values Survey (WVS;-2013. I consider the influence of various country-level influences on individuals' protest potential, including specific measures of PO; these relationships are tested via the construction of multilevel models. ...
... The dynamics of organization, social trust, and ideology within campaigns and coalitions are also impacted by certain POs, thus connecting the micro-and mesolevels to the macro. The funding of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in poorer countries by wealthy countries has often undermined the capacity of grassroots mobilization (Jalali, 2013), consequently SMO membership may not be able to predict protest regardless of regime durability. Networks that can seize POs are more able to have successful campaigns (Shawki, 2010). ...
... These results, which support H1 described earlier, affirm many past studies, such as those focused on organizations (e.g. Jalali, 2013;Shawki, 2010) which found increased benefits for protest. SMOs are more able to openly operate and organize campaigns under advantageous political conditions. ...
This article tests the general explanatory power of political opportunity theory for cross-national variations in protest throughout the world, and considers how opportunities influence individual-level characteristics crucial for coalition-formation and campaigns. This study constructs a multilevel model of protest potential, using survey data from individuals across 43 countries, drawn from the fifth and sixth waves of the World Values Survey, combined with political, economic, and cultural factors measured for each country. While many individual factors predicted individuals’ protest potential, a mixture of country-level factors—including select political opportunities—are of general importance. Country-level regime durability and empowerment rights moderated the effect of organization membership, social trust, and political ideology on protest, demonstrating how political opportunity interacts to enhance the impact of individual characteristics relevant to coalition-building and campaigns.
... В частном случае негосударственной социальной поддержки «объективация» бенефициаров противоречит также ценностям гражданского участия (Eliasoph 2013) и представительства интересов местного сообщества (Jalali 2013;Nagar, Raju 2003). Именно поэтому, казалось бы, отвлеченный вопрос про пирожки из детской сказки может помочь лучше понять то, как функционируют социально ориентированные организации третьего сектора (далеенекоммерческие организации, НКО), в частности процесс их «профессионализации» (Alvarez 2009). ...
... Общей характерной чертой для указанных процессов является усложение организационной структуры (Jarvis 2014;Salamon 2001). В случае профессионализированных НКО этот процесс тесно связан с возникновением «проектного мышления» -project thinking (Jalali 2013;Sampson 2002). ...
... В целом можно говорить о том, что значительная часть деятельности начинает сводиться к бумажной работе -заполнению форм, отчетов, рамок проектов, грантовых заявок, протоколов совещаний, финансовой и административной документации (Jalali 2013;Wallace 1997). В этом смысле проектное мышление -это форма бюрократизации и усложнения структуры организации. ...
В фокусе статьи важный аспект процесса «профессионализации» третьего сектора-формирование «проектного мышления». Рассматриваемое явление характерно для членов сообщества третьего сектора, чья деятельность ведется в рамках «проектов»-ограниченной по времени формы деятельности, которая подразумевает строгую последовательность административно-технической организации рабочего процесса. Эмпирическим материалом послужило полевое исследование 16 НКО в Петербурге, занимающихся социальной поддержкой старшего поколения. Однако ключевым кейсом является межрегиональная благотворительная организация, занимающаяся помощью одиноким постояльцам домов престарелых. На основе 30 интервью, включенных наблюдений-посещения домов престарелых, сбора подарков, организации мероприятий, обучения компьютерной грамотности, общению с пожилыми людьми-анализа видео-и фотоматериалов, а также внутренних письменных документов, статья предлагает обобщающе-теоретическое обоснование причинам уменьшения возможностей для бенефициаров влиять на процесс принятия решений относительно содержания и процесса социальной поддержки. Используя аналогию с сюжетом сказки про Красную Шапочку, автор предлагает анализ того, как формируется проект, требующий определенных административно-правовых процедур и строгой отчетности. На примере купленных пирогов, привезенных в учреждение долгосрочного ухода с собственной пекарней, показывается конфликт между исполнителями проекта и его руководителями. Кроме того, демонстрируется, как подобный менеджеризм и формализация оказания услуг оказывает негативный эффект на качество услуг, а также на степень их соответствия потребностям постояльцев дома престарелых.
... In addition, examining the diversity of non-governmental elderly care arrangements in St. Petersburg, including statesupported volunteer programmes, humanitarian aid, local self-help socialisation events and comprehensive business-like social services by professionalised NGOs, contributes to the understanding of complexity and diversity of care as such. Finally, the study contributes to the discussion of the third-sector NGO-isation process (Jalali 2013). ...
... Clients, on the contrary, would care paternalistically due to sharing the Russian state's conservative values. The final proposition, based on a critique of the third sector, is NGO-isation (Jalali 2013). It argues that non-governmental sector expert community development is the primary reason for the objectification of aged people (Krause 2014). ...
... The participation of patients or clients is generally seen as a crucial component of ethical and effective social work, medical care and nursing ( Karvinen-Niinikoski 2016; Hurlbert and Gupta 2015;Park and Schumacher 2014;Mol 2008;Pakenham 1998;Edwards and Noller 1998). Similarly, third-sector scholars point out that participation of beneficiaries in decision-making over NGO work is instrumental for the representation of the interests of the people (Jarvis 2014;Jalali 2013). ...
This thesis is a qualitative ethnographic study on the intersection of care, social work and third sector research. It aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the organisation of elderly care provision by NGOs in St. Petersburg, the second-largest city in Russia, and its surroundings, in the context of the global trends of third-sector NGO-isation, recent Russian social policy transformations and the rise of the ideology of active ageing. Altogether, I studied 16 NGOs that provide elderly care, including state-dependent veteran organisations, independent third-sector organisations, self-help support groups as well as several volunteer movements, all of which are involved in providing care services to older people.
The key analytical concepts regarding non-governmental elderly care in St. Petersburg are the “participatory” and “paternalistic” modes of care, which can be distinguished by the ability of care receivers to influence decision-making over process and content of care. The principal aim of the research is to understand why some NGOs engage in collaborative decision-making with their beneficiaries, while others “objectify” senior citizens by paternalistically treating them as passive receivers of social services. Accordingly, the research questions are: (1) What care modes – participatory or paternalistic – do St. Petersburg-based non-governmental elderly care providing non-governmental organisations (hereafter ECP NGOs) apply in their work? (2) What modes are dominant, and why? And, finally, (3) Under what conditions do specific modes of care tend to be enacted? Combining the method of feminist ethnography and extended case study methods, I use participatory observations, semi-structured interviews with fifty research participants and analysis of documents, multimedia data and other relevant sources to provide evidence for the dominance of the objectifying, or paternalistic, mode of care in care work practices by the Russian NGOs. In some cases, it leads to disregard of the interests of beneficiaries, less connection between NGOs and community, and a mismatch between the growing support for the ideology of active ageing and the actual practices of care managers and caregivers. I review three alternative explanatory mechanisms for the dominance of paternalistic care among studied NGOs: dependence on the state, historically evolved institutional constraints (path dependency) and, finally, the NGO-isation of the third sector. I conclude that the last has been a consistently determinant characteristic of the paternalistic mode of care in a broad range of the Russian NGOs providing non-governmental elderly care.
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/318419
... In particular, their role within the global aid architecture potentially renders NGOs more accountable to donors than to communities or other stakeholders (Banks et al. 2015). The availability of overseas donor funding can lead NGOs to abandon efforts to secure change, as they no longer have to rely on the support of local communities (Jalili 2013). Consequently, Dempsey (2009Dempsey ( , 2012 calls for greater focus on the issues of power that permeate NGO relationships vis-à-vis different groups. ...
... Consequently, Balboa (2013) suggests that NGOs have become powerful global players, 'masterfully manoeuvring' on the international stage (Balboa 2013, p. 274). However, in so doing, they may have neglected the local and bridging capacities needed to operate successfully at local and national level, as suggested by Jalili (2013) and Banks et al. (2015) above. We can see from this brief review that NGO work is characterised by tensions, such as those that emerge between the on-the-ground and communicative labour undertaken by such organisations. ...
... This finds an echo in the literature; e.g. Seckinelgin (2006) and Jalili (2013). If we use Wicks et al.'s (1994) analysis, CU's stakeholders have indeed been constitutive or integral to the organisation's basic identity: The spread of country programmes, for example, clearly represents an organic response to CU's relationships with particular people and organisations. ...
International non-governmental organisations (NGOs) combine practical and advocacy efforts to address global challenges like poverty and climate change. However, NGOs are embedded within the same global system they seek to challenge. This article explore the tensions this raises from the vantage point of one particular organisation (Concern Universal). Drawing on a paradox perspective, we find that despite the structural constraints, NGO actors and the poor people they work alongside are active and well-informed participants in the development process. However, a focus on the communicative labour of NGOs uncovers the power relations at play in that work. Nonetheless, our paper challenges ideas about development as ‘us versus them’. Rather, by focusing our analysis on the relationships between NGO actors and multiple others, we show how the organisation is effectively constituted by these and other relationships.
... Relatedly, how collaboration with INGOs and Northern CSOs affects the legitimacy of Southern CSOs in their own contexts is a recurrent topic. Adaptation of Northern agendas, understandings of issues (Bownas, 2017), and ways of working to meet the legitimacy demands of INGOs and Northern CSOs (such as financial management, proficiency in the English language, proposal development, and reporting requirements) can lead towards NGOization, involving mission drift and professionalization, and away from representation of constituencies and organizations' own agendas, developed from their own understandings (Bownas, 2017;Chahim & Prakash, 2014;Choudry & Kapoor, 2013;Jalali, 2013). Southern CSOs thus face contradictory demands regarding legitimacy, leading them to perform complicated balancing acts Matelski et al., 2021). ...
... Southern CSOs thus face contradictory demands regarding legitimacy, leading them to perform complicated balancing acts Matelski et al., 2021). In addition, it has been suggested that the tendency of INGOs and Northern CSOs to fund consensus-oriented voices and ways of working can lead to the strengthening of those voices and the relative weakening of others with more conflict-oriented stances involving constituency mobilization (Banks et al., 2015;Jalali, 2013), resulting in CSO collaboration potentially skewing the representative roles of Southern CSOs within their own societies. ...
This chapter establishes a conceptual foundation for investigating the reimagining of roles, relations, and processes in collaborations among civil society organizations in development. The chapter starts by introducing the notion of imagination. It then proceeds to review the existing research literature on challenges related to power and privilege in civil society organization collaborations. Further, it explores new ideas and practices that have been identified as practical translations of the potential new foundations for collaboration. The discussion presented in this chapter forms not only an overall conceptual context for the chapters that follow, all of which speak from, but also to this literature and offer new directions for this reimagining.
... Relatedly, how collaboration with INGOs and Northern CSOs affects the legitimacy of Southern CSOs in their own contexts is a recurrent topic. Adaptation of Northern agendas, understandings of issues (Bownas, 2017), and ways of working to meet the legitimacy demands of INGOs and Northern CSOs (such as financial management, proficiency in the English language, proposal development, and reporting requirements) can lead towards NGOization, involving mission drift and professionalization, and away from representation of constituencies and organizations' own agendas, developed from their own understandings (Bownas, 2017;Chahim & Prakash, 2014;Choudry & Kapoor, 2013;Jalali, 2013). Southern CSOs thus face contradictory demands regarding legitimacy, leading them to perform complicated balancing acts Matelski et al., 2021). ...
... Southern CSOs thus face contradictory demands regarding legitimacy, leading them to perform complicated balancing acts Matelski et al., 2021). In addition, it has been suggested that the tendency of INGOs and Northern CSOs to fund consensus-oriented voices and ways of working can lead to the strengthening of those voices and the relative weakening of others with more conflict-oriented stances involving constituency mobilization (Banks et al., 2015;Jalali, 2013), resulting in CSO collaboration potentially skewing the representative roles of Southern CSOs within their own societies. ...
... La dualidad observada entre organizaciones de servicios y organizaciones de inclusión social responde en parte a la existencia de una cierta tensión entre la representación de las necesidades de la comunidad y la dependencia de la financiación por parte de la Administración pública (Guo, 2007;Jalali, 2013;Pérez y Navarro, 2013), que se ve reflejada en el espacio de relaciones entre las organizaciones participantes en el estudio. Esta polarización de la red muestra también la coexistencia de una competencia por los recursos a través de fuentes públicas y privadas, junto con la necesidad de colaboración para la provisión de servicios y la atención a usuarios (Tsasis, 2009). ...
... The division found between service organisations and social inclusion organisations is, in part, a response to the existence of a certain tension between representing the needs of a community and dependence on financing by the state (Guo, 2007;Jalali, 2013;Pérez and Navarro, 2013), which is reflected in the relationship space between the organisations participating in the study. This polarisation in the network also reveals the coexistence of competition for resources from public and private sources alongside of the necessity for collaboration to provide services and assistance to users (Tsasis, 2009). ...
La colaboración organizacional es un aspecto clave de la prestación de servicios desde el tercer sector. En este artículo analizamos las relaciones entre 21 organizaciones del tercer sector en Andalucía. Mediante el análisis de redes sociales, evaluamos la centralidad y la cohesión, la influencia y la mediación en diferentes estructuras de relación entre estas organizaciones. Los resultados muestran la existencia de dos espacios de relación: la prestación de servicios a colectivos específicos y la inclusión y la participación social. Algunas entidades aglutinan gran parte de la actividad de relación en la red, mediando entre los usuarios, el tercer sector y la Administración pública. Estas entidades estructuran las relaciones en conglomerados con una elevada cohesión, que facilitan el control de los recursos y la convergencia de objetivos entre organizaciones del mismo ámbito.
... Information gathering to stimulate change should use a multimethod approach including both quantitative and qualitative data in order to provide a more thorough assessment of community needs, with narratives describing socio-environmental and health inequalities of particular importance ( Hancock & Minkler, 2012;Marti-Costa & Serrano-Garcia, 1983). In the field of global development, aid projects commonly have limited local participation and a narrow focus on program implementation processes ( Jalali, 2013;Narayanan, Vineetha Sarangan, & Bharadwaj, 2015;Pfeiffer, 2003). This has resulted in calls for development practices and research to help raise critical consciousness and awareness of problems and potential solutions among the populations they serve ( Narayanan et al., 2015). ...
... The baseline assessment not only allowed for information gathering, but also served to establish awareness of the MKSHI and launch potential partnerships. Consciousness-raising, a critical component of the community development process ( Marti-Costa & Serrano-Garcia, 1983), yet one that is often ignored in global development projects ( Jalali, 2013;Narayanan et al., 2015), was apparent. The assessment provided an awakening of insights into the complexities and intricacies of MNCH in the two service districts as participants shared stories about their issues, challenges, and preferred visions. ...
To articulate community perspectives on maternal, newborn, and child health issues, challenges, and preferred visions, the Mama Kwanza Socioeconomic Health Initiative (MKSHI), a Canadian–Tanzanian partnership, undertook a multimethod needs assessment using a community development approach. This paper reports on dialog with a cross-section of 12 health care providers and 15 stakeholders. The findings provided rich narratives on the health care context in the MKSHI Arusha and Ngorongoro service areas. Barriers to quality health care included complex socioeconomic needs, poor accessibility, providers requiring continuing education, inadequately staffed and resourced clinics, lack of service integration, and poor quality work life for providers. Ongoing community participation in MKSHI planning is required to attain preferred visions of equitable and accessible health services, knowledgeable and caring providers, and well-resourced programs. The assessment highlighted the importance of international development projects facilitating community consciousness-raising and dialog to create community partnerships that will enhance project effectiveness and sustainability.
... Another reason is that it has becomes the business of NGO to attract Kool aid and funds from the global North to sustain their operations. As elsewhere in the global South, these NGOs are fearful of reporting their failure (vis-à-vis the direct objectives), as a result of which they would lose their funding from the global North donors (Jalali, 2013). As in the sugar baron case, NGOs raised funds amounting to US$ millions to assist the grassroots communities over a decade. ...
... In other circumstances, politicisation leverages effective influence on the targets to concede their demands, but politicisation jeopardises the movements under this neopatrimonial regime. In terms of involvement of political elites, especially the opposition party in this regime, as suggested by Cai (2010), Goldstone and Tilly (2001) and Davenport (2000), this will result, not only in the repression of these movements by the ruling government, but it will also undermine their autonomy and identity (Jalali, 2013). ...
In the social movement literature, scholars have proposed that the success or failure of social movements is shaped by several factors, including: social movement strategies and organisational arrangements; cost-benefit calculations informing government responses to social movement demands; the openness of political opportunity structures; and capacity of social movements to mobilise resources and access transnational networks to support their demands. Influenced predominantly by the experiences of social movements in the global North, the propositions of these scholars fail to adequately account for the performance of social movements operating within certain political regime types prevalent in the global South. As a contribution to bridging this gap, this thesis explains why some movements of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Cambodia fail while others succeed, within a context of struggle for political survival by the neo-patrimonial patron of the regime. The thesis focuses on CSO movements engaged in contesting economic land concessions granted to foreign companies in Cambodia and, in so doing, substantiates new empirical and theoretical links between social movements and the political survival of varying regime types.
The study employed a qualitative process-tracing method to examine two cases of CSO movements targeting subordinate government institutions (e.g. provincial offices and ministries) and foreign companies investing in agro-industrial land. The CSOs in the two cases demanded remedy for similar adverse social, economic and environmental impacts caused by large-scale land acquisition for agro-industries. However, they achieved substantially different degrees of success and failure. The thesis argues that a primary factor explaining this variation is the choice of ‘balancing strategies’ employed by the regime’s patron to secure its own political survival by manoeuvring between concessive and repressive responses. To survive politically, the patron tends, on the one hand, to employ repressive measures to deal with opposition, including CSOs that challenge the members of the winning coalitions (influential supporters of the regime’s patron); on the other, it deploys concessive measures to co-opt and circumvent opposition. These strategies illuminate the patron’s calculation of risks and rewards, embodied as the maintenance of political support from the winning coalitions’ members and the placating of aggrieved communities through the relative use of concessive or repressive responses. The way in which the patron calculates risks and rewards is contingent upon their perception of whether or not the movements put the regime and its winning coalitions at risk. The main reference point in making such calculations of risk is the regime’s survival. These strategies to cope with different CSO movements are adopted not only by the central patron, but also by its subordinate institutions.
In one case involving a land concession held by a senator who is also known as a sugar baron, although the CSO movements employed strong strategies, such as: an escalation from domestic to international strategies; the creation of a formal organisational arrangement; external networking; and the adoption of a stance aligned with some political elites, they failed to achieve most of their demands. They were relatively unsuccessful because the subordinate institutions, especially the provincial office, chose to repress the CSO movements due to influence from the sugar baron, a member of the winning coalitions. In contrast, CSO movements targeting a European company employed relatively weak strategies (i.e. weak networking, an informal organisational set-up and the seeking of support from institutions within the government), but they achieved most of their demands. They were relatively successful because the subordinate institutions conceded to regulate the European company to address most of the CSOs’ demands. Due to the European company’s lack of connection to the patron of the regime, the subordinate institutions held strong autonomy and thus could concede to the CSOs.
The interactions explained in these case studies suggest that the relative success or failure of CSO movements is not contingent primarily upon their strategies, but rather upon the concessive or repressive measures of the central patron. These measures, adopted as they are for the political survival of the regime’s patron, shape the responses of the subordinate institutions. In essence, CSO movements are more likely to fail when they pose a high risk to the survival of the regime’s patron. The thesis concludes that, while the strategies orchestrated by the CSO movements are important in explaining the dynamics of their movements and outcomes, these strategies are not primary factors in determining the degrees of success or failure. Thus, scholars in this field should take into account the survival strategies adopted by political leaders in the particular regime type within which a social movement operates.
... 29 This is heightened given that pots of international funding are finite, which Jalali has argued can induce competition among NGOs, thus distracting groups from working toward similar goals. 30 On the other hand, competition for finite funding could encourage NGOs to hone their skills and improve their activities. ...
What forms of precarity do civil society actors experience in Central Asia? What are the sources of these precarities? In this article, I synthesize literature from political science and development studies to identify five top-down mechanisms of precaritization for civil society: (extra)legal restrictions on operations, financing activities, flows of funding from the Global North, professionalization, and the sociopolitical atmosphere. I draw on twenty-seven interviews with activists and human rights defenders in Kazakhstan to consider how civil society actors navigate structural constraints on their work. In line with the literature on authoritarian regimes, I find that civil society actors who criticize the regime face precarity through coercion and bureaucratic demands. But whereas development studies scholarship has been pessimistic about the effects of professionalization, Kazakhstan's civil society actors see their technical training and pressure to formalize their organizations as beneficial to their reputation and institutional leverage.
... The state, as a resource provider, can deter NGO advocacy (Li et al., 2017) as much as it could restrict the flow of resources and funds made available to the NGOs as part of international solidarity through laws and policy transfers that are designed to stifle the voice of civil society (Amnesty International, 2019). Therefore, NGOs operating in a constrained political environment need to secure external funding sources to survive and sustain their operations while carefully transforming their activities from "confrontational to palliative" (Jalali, 2013) to reduce the risk of a political crackdown by the government (Hasenfeld & Garrow, 2012). This explains what is at stake in the neoliberal discourse of resilience, in which "to be resilient is to forego the very power of resistance and accept one's vulnerability to that which threatens" (Reid, 2013, p. 360). ...
Civil society occupies a significant space in any dynamic political landscape. However, in recent years, governments worldwide have attempted a shift away from activism and advocacy among civil society organisations (CSOs), favouring the apolitical service‐driven organisations while disabling those perceived as “political.” This process has incapacitated civil society of its political habits, tendencies, and potentials and turned CSOs into infinitely malleable and adaptive subjects, tamed and governed by institutions. Not only has this functioned to create a discursive expansion and valorisation of the concept of “civil society resilience” as an alternative political vision for “resistance,” but it has also led to the inclusion of CSOs in the political system on conditions of their exclusion from political participation. Using the case of India as an example of a shrinking welfare state—with its burgeoning poverty, repressed civic space, international non‐governmental organisations (INGOs) banned, and NGOs abrogated from foreign funding on “anti‐national,” “anti‐developmental” charges—this article captures the rapid symptomatic depoliticisation of civil society, its resource dependency on CSOs, and their potential political exclusion and disengagement. The research builds on a qualitative exploration of the transformative journey of ten highly‐influential INGOs in India to offer a distinct perspective toward effecting systemic change by repoliticising CSO resilience as an enhanced strategy of practicing resistance. In doing so, the article bridges the gap between the neoliberal manifestation of resilience and resistance by reconceptualising how and if CSOs co‐exist and navigate between competing visions of resilience (as institutionalised subjects of neoliberalism) and resistance (as political subjects of change).
... Mozambique face many challenges when investing in technological innovations. However, resources can be mobilised within a country or abroad (Jalali, 2013;Edsand, 2017). For instance, international accords, such as the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol, have provisions for using international funds in the renewable resource green energy sector, strengthening the resource mobilisation system function. ...
For a more responsible and inclusive technological innovation system (TIS), entrepreneurs should strategically frame the technological innovation field in which they are inserted with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria in mind. The literature on TIS system functions that need to be stimulated to develop sustainable technologies that meet ESG criteria successfully is scant. A literature review from the past seven years was conducted to investigate the applicability of the TIS framework from a DEI and ESG perspective. A total of 29 semi-structured interviews were conducted with leading high-tech exporting companies in Angola and Mozambique to assess TIS in a socio-political and economically challenging environment. The study results show that the TIS framework marginally aligns with the DEI and ESG. It proposes a slight adaptation of TIS, focusing on the entrepreneur as a catalyst for sustainable and inclusive technological innovation.
... As a result of insufficient financial resources, frontier economies such as Angola and Mozambique face many challenges when investing in technological innovations. However, resources can be mobilised within a country or abroad (Jalali, 2013;Edsand, 2017). For instance, international accords, such as the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol, have provisions for using international funds in the renewable resource green energy sector, strengthening the resource mobilisation system function. ...
... Mozambique face many challenges when investing in technological innovations. However, resources can be mobilised within a country or abroad (Jalali, 2013;Edsand, 2017). For instance, international accords, such as the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol, have provisions for using international funds in the renewable resource green energy sector, strengthening the resource mobilisation system function. ...
For a more responsible and inclusive technological innovation system (TIS), entrepreneurs should strategically frame the technological innovation field in which they are inserted with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria in mind. The literature on TIS system functions that need to be stimulated to develop sustainable technologies that meet ESG criteria successfully is scant. A literature review from the past seven years was conducted to investigate the applicability of the TIS framework from a DEI and ESG perspective. A total of 29 semi-structured interviews were conducted with leading high-tech exporting companies in Angola and Mozambique to assess TIS in a socio-political and economically challenging environment. The study results show that the TIS framework marginally aligns with the DEI and ESG. It proposes a slight adaptation of TIS, focusing on the entrepreneur as a catalyst for sustainable and inclusive technological innovation.
... Research on civil society partnerships and their power dynamics largely focuses on North-South relations, often emphasizing funding relations, including implications for who gets funded, as well as how funding relations constrain civil society organizations (CSOs) and force them to change their agendas and ways of working (Banks et al., 2015;Deo & McDuie-Ra, 2011;Jalali, 2013). Efforts to equalize power relations (e.g. the #Shiffthepower movement 1 and the Grand Bargain's call to allocate more funds to Southern CSOs) 2 have mainly sought to address these constraining factors. ...
The chapter focuses on a case of CSO collaboration in India, where feminist collaboration provided the space for narrowing resource gaps through a shared commitment to the rights of the represented groups. This case involves a collaboration between a sex workers' network in India and a Delhi-based feminist human rights CSO. We illustrate how feminist engagement with intersectionality, positionality and agency can shape the advocacy of a sex workers' network through lived experiences.
... Research on civil society partnerships and their power dynamics largely focuses on North-South relations, often emphasizing funding relations, including implications for who gets funded, as well as how funding relations constrain civil society organizations (CSOs) and force them to change their agendas and ways of working (Banks et al., 2015;Deo & McDuie-Ra, 2011;Jalali, 2013). Efforts to equalize power relations (e.g. the #Shiffthepower movement 1 and the Grand Bargain's call to allocate more funds to Southern CSOs) 2 have mainly sought to address these constraining factors. ...
... Indonesia (Carroll, 2009 (Foucault, 1991(Foucault, , 2009Burchell dkk.,1991;Lemke, 2001Lemke, , 2002Lemke, , 2012Lemke, , 2019Bonnafous-Boucher, 2005;Peters, 2006;Sending dan Neumann, 2006;Huff, 2007;Raffnsøe dkk., 2009;Hamann, 2009;Dean, 2010;Bevir, 2010Bevir, , 2011May, 2014;Fraser, 2018;Toplišek, A. 2019); kedua, diskursus aktivisme NGOs di tataran akar rumput (Henderson, K. M. 1999;Batliwala, S. 2002;Jalali, 2013;Lagerspetz, 2018; García-Del Moral dkk., 2019; Claus dan Tracey, 2020); ketiga, diskursus managerialisme NGOs dalam rentang dua dekade awal abad ke-21 (Chang, 2002;Roberts dkk, 2005;Srinivas, 2008;Dar dan Cooke, 2008;Jones, Roberts, dan Froehling, 2011;Georgeou dan Engel, 2011;Klikauer, T. 2013aKlikauer, T. , 2013bKlikauer, T. , 2016Appe, 2016;Girei, 2016;Mitchell, 2018;Knafo, 2019; Eagleton-Pierce dan Knafo, 2020;Aagaard dan Trykker, 2020;Kutay, 2021); keempat, diskursus NGOs Indonesia paska reformasi dalam berbagai isu: pembangunan, demokrasi, dan keamanan (Hadiwinata, 2003a, 2003b, Hadiwinata, 2004Suharko, 2004Suharko, , 2005Setiawan, 2000;SMERU, 2000SMERU, , 2003Antlöv dkk., 2006;Antlöv dkk., 2010;Hoelman, 2021) dan bentuk-bentuk pemeragakan resistensi para aktivis/pekerja NGOs terhadap pusaran arus-deras "governmentalitas neoliberal" yang terepresentasikan dalam "korporatisasi aktivisme". ...
In two decades of post-authoritarian Indonesia, the power relations of NGOs with the state, grassroots communities, donors, and the private sector experienced significant changes. The emergence of a new development agenda, namely democratization combined with neo-liberal economic policies or often known as “good governance”, has become the dominant discourse in constructing the identity of workers / staff and NGOs institutions. In the authoritarian era, the discursive formation of NGOs took place in the dominant practice of "activism" or social movements to respond to the failure of the state in development which ignored the rights of citizens. Shifting to the post-authoritarian era, the discursive formation of NGOs took place in the dominance of the practice of “managerialism” as the power and disciplinary practice of the neoliberal discourse for accountability, transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness in the management of development, democracy, and security projects.
Using a Critical Discourse Analysis approach and a Foucaultian conceptual framework, this study will explain the following two issues: first, how the power of the “regime of truth” of neoliberal governmentality in postauthoritarian Indonesia has shaped NGO activists as managerial subjects; and how the subject NGO activists create techniques, tactics, and strategies of resistance (counter-conduct) against the normalizing power of managerialism which reduces grassroots activism of NGOs.
Based on the findings of the experiences of three Indonesian NGOs, this study shows how global cooperation networks, either directly or indirectly, with UN agencies, Bretton Wood Institution, multilateral organizations (OECD), MNCs-TNCs, donor agencies, INGOs, NGOs Forum, NGOs that are consolidated in “good governance” have formed neoliberal governmentality, “managerial subjects” and “entrepreneurial subjects” among workers/staff and NGO institutions. The effect of the normalizing power of "managerialism" in NGOs produces various forms of particular power, resistance (tactical reversal), "the tactical polyvalence of discourse". Particular forms of power productively produce an unstable, changing, and contingent orientation and spectrum of power relations, both in internal NGOs and between NGOs and the state, donors, and grassroots communities.
... Previous research has offered guidance on how we might conceive of the role of international aid in achieving sustainable development goals (Biermann et al., 2017;Collier & Dollar, 2001;Rogerson et al., 2004). Existing studies see foreign donors as (a) brokers between sustainable development goals (SDGs) and aid-recipient countries' needs (Collier & Dollar, 2001), or (b) intruders into aid-recipient countries' internal affairs (Banks et al., 2015;Jalali, 2013). The intruder view has triggered adoption of regulations in aidrecipient countries as a means to regulate and monitor international nongovernmental organizations' (INGOs) presence and actions on grounds that regulations will advance their aid's effectiveness. ...
Existing studies see foreign donors as (a) brokers between sustainable development goals (SDGs) and aid-recipient countries’ needs, or (b) intruders into aid-recipient countries’ internal affairs. The intruder view has triggered regulations of NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) in aid-recipient countries. However, little is known, empirically, about how foreign donors respond to regulatory burden. We suggest regulatory burden adds uncertainty and turbulence to the operating context, negatively affecting government effectiveness in securing aid. This negative effect is moderated by the number of foreign donors operating in a jurisdiction. Propositions are tested in a data set derived from the 221 Ecuadorian municipalities during 2007-2018. Findings suggest regulations of NGOs have decreased municipalities’ ability to secure international cooperation. This negative effect is larger in municipalities with a higher presence of donor supply. These results encourage policy makers to consider counterproductive costs of overregulating foreign NGOs and other civil society organizations when designing regulatory tools.
... When constituencies of societal interests professionalize by adopting centralized leadership structures and hierarchical mechanisms for delegating authority, they can build relationships with government insiders (Hansen 1991). In turn, however, formal organizations and movements are subject to the iron law of oligarchy: activist leaders who enjoy privileged relationships with government insiders or foreign donors tend over time to adopt more conservative goals and strategies (Collier and Handlin 2009a, 82-91;Michels 1959). 1 From a mainstream social movements perspective, activist leaders are often seen to pursue more conservative goals and strategies solely to preserve their access to government (or foreign) resources (Bano 2008;Jalali 2013;Piven and Cloward 1979;Schuller 2012;Thayer 2010). In the context of the twentieth century, a period of frequent military rule in much of Latin America, the trade-off for such privileged relationships with the state was de-radicalization and explicit subservience to government demands Collier 1979 and. ...
This article examines how the organizational structure of a social movement affects the tactics it is likely to adopt. Hybrid movements gained prominence at the start of the twenty-first century. Like movements of the past, they protested on the streets; but unlike the movements of the past, they also acted like interest groups by lobbying government over policy. Considered through the lens of traditional scholarship, this phenomenon presents a puzzle. Loose networks of activists are thought to be good at contentious politics but incapable of negotiating with government. By contrast, federations of interest groups are seen to be good at insider lobbying but subject to co-optation. This article theorizes the middle ground between social movements and interest groups by proposing a third structure for social movement organizing, the federative coalition, which incorporates some of the advantages of hierarchy while avoiding some of its pitfalls. The article illustrates this argument through a case study of Brazil’s AIDS movement.
... None of these organisations seeks "social service provider" status or expertise recognition by the third sector community. thus, they do not aim to "professionalise" [Krause 2014;Jalali 2013]. this leads to a certain degree of independence for "clienteles" from limitations established by FL 442. ...
Although the Russian regime considers civil society to be a threat to its authority, social NGOs are positively viewed by state institutions at all levels. unlike human rights organizations and political activists, socially-oriented third sector organizations are not typically criticized by the propaganda machine. On the contrary, these NGOs currently play a crucial role in social policy implementation in Russia. By analyzing the trajectories of state-third sector relations of 18 Saint-Petersburg-based non-governmental elderly care organizations, the article characterizes three ways in which NGOs approach relationships with the state: NGOs which support state policy by being part of it, NGOs which supplement state policies in spheres the state fails to address appropriately, and NGOs which substitute for the state, in some cases exercising power over local state social services.
... In that regard, it has been proved that the professionalization of NGOs leads them to hold donors more accountable than potential beneficiaries. It also means they are more focused on serving a group of users than on political incidence or industrial actions, aimed at social change (Chahim and Prakash 2014;Jalali 2013;Van Slyke 2003). Thus, the financial dependency on public administration reduces their capacity to represent the interests of the community (Guo 2007). ...
This study analyzes the strategies displayed by non-governmental organizations in the social services sector to face the resource dependence on public administration in Southern Spain. We focus on the reorganization of the public subsidies system in Spain and its specific impact on the entities registered in Andalusia. In 2017, the Autonomous Communities assumed the management of a proportion of the subsidies with a charge to the Personal Income Tax for “social purposes,” which was previously managed by the General State Administration in its entirety. The case study combines the description of (a) the process of transferring the management of a line of subsidies from the state to the regional level, (b) the strategies of non-governmental organizations to face the context of instability and financial uncertainty, and (c) the impact of the regulatory bases of grant calls on programs implementation. First, the database with all the applications submitted in the calls of 2017 and 2018 is analyzed (n = 11,610 applications). Second, we describe the perception of the change in the management system, from the point of view of the third-sector social services entities. The combination of both strategies allows us to examine in detail the response of social service organizations to ensure the continuity of the budget and the continuity of services. The results show that the change in the management system gave rise to a wide debate among non-governmental social services organizations about the calls for grants managed by the regional government. However, the qualitative case study showed that the reaction of the entities has more to do with the needs of adaptation to an unstable, uncertain, and highly competitive financial environment, than with specific characteristics of grant calls.
... This has yielded insight into the dynamics of such relations. Northern CSOs' dominance in defining agendas and understandings regarding issues and solutions has often been explored, as has how this impinges on Southern CSOs' capacity to play an autonomous role, representing constituencies, articulating issues, setting agendas and carrying out their work as they choose (Jalali 2013;Jordan and Van Tuijl 2000). However, we know little about how Southern CSOs see the nature and role of different forms of collaboration with various types of CSOs. ...
A commonly explored theme in international civil society organisation (CSO) collaborations is the dominance of Northern CSOs and how this impinges on Southern CSOs’ autonomy, but there is little work on the relative importance of different collaborations for Southern CSOs. This study examined complementarity as a new approach to understanding CSO collaboration. Seeking Southern perspectives, we examined the case of CSOs working on disaster risk reduction in India and developed a typology of complementarities in this domain. The article considers the implications for understanding complementarity in broader CSO collaborations. We find that constructing collaborations through the lens of complementarity may facilitate capitalising on diversity among CSOs and help build collaborations that consider the domestic orientation of many Southern CSOs and reshape the roles of Northern CSOs as complementary rather than leading.
... Bottom-up threats in the form of mass mobilization, emanating as they do from the realm of civil society, are the kind of hazard most likely to be associated with NGOs. The literature on civil society and democracy assistance has been very critical of the belief that the presence of NGOs in a country, foreign-funded or otherwise, necessarily has a democratizing or even destabilizing effect (Ishkanian 2008;Jalali 2013;Lewis 2013). NGOs are not necessarily government critics; they may be apolitical charity organizations, pragmatic rent-seekers, or ideologically aligned with the government. ...
Recent decades have witnessed a global cascade of restrictive and repressive measures against nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). We theorize that state learning from observing the regional environment, rather than NGO growth per se or domestic unrest, explains this rapid diffusion of restrictions. We develop and test two hypotheses: (1) states adopt NGO restrictions in response to nonarmed bottom-up threats in their regional environment (“learning from threats”); (2) states adopt NGO restrictions through imitation of the legislative behavior of other states in their regional environment (“learning from examples”). Using an original dataset on NGO restrictions in ninety-six countries over a period of twenty-five years (1992–2016), we test these hypotheses by means of negative binomial regression and survival analyses, using spatially weighted techniques. We find very limited evidence for learning from threats, but consistent evidence for learning from examples. We corroborate this finding through close textual comparison of laws adopted in the Middle East and Africa, showing legal provisions being taken over almost verbatim from one law into another. In our conclusion, we spell out the implications for the quality of democracy and for theories of transition to a postliberal order, as well as for policy-makers, lawyers, and civil-society practitioners.
... In examining the objectification of care receivers, I focus on caregiving in the non-governmental sector. According to the works of many noted scholars in the field (Batley 2011;Jalali 2013;Krause 2014), non-governmental sector civic values of grassroots activism and empowerment stand in sharp contrast to actual processes of third sector professionalisation (that is, the technical and administrative expertise developed by now-paid third sector employers), the development of expert knowledge and the commodification of beneficiaries (that is, the perception of social service receivers as a resource 'to sell' to potential grant-givers (Krause 2014)), which is exactly what objectification and the contrast between caregivers' ideology and practices is about. Notably, the 'active ageing' ideology-a policy framework established and promoted by the UN Madrid Plan of Action on Ageing (UN 2002)-was pioneered by the third sector in Russia. 2 Assuming active ageing to be the normative and practical foundation of care involving the agency of care receivers and their participation in the collaborative decisionmaking over content and process of care, one must further examine the caregiving undertaken by the actors-namely, non-governmental organisations (NGOs)-promoting the ideology. ...
The article presents the case of non-governmental elderly care provision in St Petersburg, Russia. In an attempt to fill the gap in existing care research, it discusses the objectification of care receivers and the inequalities between caregivers and care receivers in the case of caregiving under circumstances of non-governmental sector professionalisation. The empirical part of the article is based on fieldwork carried out in 2014–2015 in St Petersburg, consisting of 48 interviews, numerous observations and document analysis.
... Thus it is not so much denominational competition as congregational competition and churches' reliance on their members' voluntary contributions that shape the congregational incentive system. 28 In contrast, as many observers have pointed out, the incentives for NGOs are to satisfy their funders, usually large international donors (see, among many others, Bartley 2007;Wallace et al. 2007;Cooley 2010;Morfit 2011;Jalali 2013). NGO activists may complain about the need to submit reports and account for funds in order to keep their funders satisfied, but their livelihoods typically depend not on satisfying their constituents, but on satisfying their donors. ...
Viewing missionary Protestantism and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as carriers of transnational institutional innovation, this article compares their successes and failures at creating self-sustaining institutions in distant societies. Missionary Protestantism and NGOs are similar in that they attempt to establish formal organizations outside kinship, lineage, and ethnic forms of solidarity. Focusing on institutions as ways to create collective capacities that organize social life, we trace the route whereby Protestant missionaries established congregational religion in Africa and identify social practices that made this enterprise successful but are comparatively absent in current NGO attempts to transform organizational life. Largely ignored by sociologists interested in institutional transformation, the history of congregational religion offers valuable sociological lessons about the conditions for radical institutional innovation. Its success was rooted first, in colonial missionaries’ ability to enforce new ways of life on small exemplary communities; second, in local adaptations (African prophetic movements, Pentecostalism) that deepened and widened the social reach of congregational principles; and third in the incentives Protestantism created for propagating the congregational form.
... En el caso de la Ayuda para el Desarrollo Exterior (ade) de los países desarrollados dirigida a las ong de desarrollo en la periferia, la capacidad de la ong para determinar el destino del dinero es insignificante. La canalización de la 318 DEBRA D. CHAPMAN asistencia oficial para el desarrollo por medio de las ong, y no a los organismos gubernamentales, se justifica por el hecho de que son más eficaces al atender las necesidades de las comunidades locales debido a su papel apolítico y flexible (Jalali, 2013). También se quita la presión a los gobiernos, puesto que las comunidades reciben cierto apoyo y las ong no se consideran actores con una agenda política partidista de la cual las comunidades pueden exigir más apoyo. ...
Este libro reúne los trabajos de un grupo de investigadores vinculados por la Unidad Académica en Estudios del Desarrollo (uaed), de la Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas. Las y los contribuidores incluyen profesores de planta, egresados del Programa de Doctorado en Estudios del Desarrollo, investigadores quienes han realizado una estancia académica en la uaed, y algunos co-autores externos. El libro es el producto del diálogo interdisciplinario entre sí. Cada capítulo, a partir de distintos acercamien-tos epistemológicos, busca examinar un "rostro" del neoliberalismo en México y más allá. Los enfoques varían, desde las teorías y prácticas del desarrollo, las políticas públicas, y el análi-sis histórico de las luchas sociales y políticas; hasta la crisis ecológica, el despojo de bienes comunes, y los estudios de caso a nivel local o regional. Con todo, la colección busca contribuir a los debates en torno al desarrollo y las alterna-tivas al neoliberalismo. Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas
... For this reason, it is possible to state that there has been no overall co-optation of the Roma and pro-Roma social sector (cf. Jalali 2013, Lomax in Jenkins 1998. Recently, other types of actors have been participating and increasingly entering into collective action-for example, various anti-racist initiatives or the younger generation of Romani and pro-Romani activists especially in the informal, grassroots segment of civil society. ...
This study seeks to go beyond the current dichotomous evaluation of the effects of foreign financial patronage (and particularly European funds) in the post-communist civil society. A longitudinal claim-making and micro-frame analysis (1992–2012) of Czech Romani/pro-Romani activists shows that with the influx of European funds there was no significant change in NGOs action repertoire toward protest and contentious collective action as some proponents of the channeling thesis assume. On the other hand, the funding did not bring about the (often mentioned) co-optation and de-mobilization either. Particularly, Romani NGOs did not use protest tactics even before the arrival of foreign patronage, while other types of actors—especially in the informal, grassroots segment of civil society—protested both before and after this funding appeared. Nevertheless, what changed with the arrival of European funds was the discursive repertoire of the Romani and pro-Romani activists. The study concludes that the impacts of European funding also vary according to different civil society sectors and the picture of the impact of funding on post-communist society, in this case in the Czech Republic, is more diversified than previously assumed.
... The growth of the NGO sector as a pillar of the neoliberal state has been established by a number of scholars (Bernal and Grewal, 2014;Elyachar, 2005;Jalali, 2013;Kamat, 2004;Rankin, 2001;Schuller, 2013;Sharma, 2008). At a basic level, the state's retreat from welfare creates the conditions for NGOs to serve as providers of services that people desperately need. ...
... For this reason, it is possible to state that there has been no overall co-optation of the Roma and pro-Roma social sector (cf. Jalali 2013, Lomax in Jenkins 1998. Recently, other types of actors have been participating and increasingly entering into collective action-for example, various anti-racist initiatives or the younger generation of Romani and pro-Romani activists especially in the informal, grassroots segment of civil society. ...
The aim of this study is to empirically analyse the relationship of collective identity frames to the mobilisation strategies of the Czech Romani and pro-Romani activists over the past two decades. After all, most existing analyses merely implicitly assume that this relationship exists, and explain the relationship as the result of a given political opportunity structure, but they do not examine these frames more closely. Using frame and claim-making analysis, the text traces the diachronic and synchronic development of self-naming frames and the collective action repertoire in five-year intervals (1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012). It shows that, whereas self-naming significantly changes, the activists’ action repertoire does not. Thus, the frequently postulated relationship between self-naming, strategies and activists’ priorities is not confirmed. However, the analysis does reveal that certain claims and frames are connected with certain strategies and repertoire patterns. The paper concludes with a discussion of reasons for this diversification of activist framings, which may be the result of efforts to focus on different target audiences within the multiplicity of opportunity structures and a response to the (new) availability of external sources of funding in Central and Eastern Europe countries.
This article examines women's activism and feminism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, focusing on marginalised women's groups and organisations that are often excluded from academic research and international donor interests. The theoretical section presents the main characteristics of the development of women's organisations in postwar BIH, addressing the problem of NGO-isation of activism and feminism, which marginalises groups of women and organisations that do not belong to prominent liberal feminist organisations that pursue gender mainstreaming. Qualitative research based on in-depth interviews and analysis shows that these organisations mostly focus on the local level to meet diverse, specific, and sometimes urgent needs of women (e.g., Roma women, rural women, impoverished as well as women in small local communities) facing particular challenges while doing so. Although most of them do not clearly profess a feminist identity, they are aware of the patriarchal context, especially in their local communities, and their interpretations are mostly in line with the feminist ethics of care. However, the lack of organisational capacity, sustainable funding, and a clear feminist agenda in their work undermine their critical potential to be triggers for social change.
Purpose
This study aims to explore the benefits of strategy as way-finding approach to strategic thinking suggested by Robert Chia for small community-based Southern NGOs. The purpose is to find alternatives to the strategic planning (SP) approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts the perspective of phronesis (Flyvbjerg, 2006) using the case study of a 45-year-old NGO based in India and working for community development. The data has been collected for over more than 20 years. Qualitative analysis of the data has been done by focusing on the activities that were performed in keeping with the requirements of phronetic research.
Findings
The study finds that through way-finding approach to strategic thinking, a Southern NGO is able to manage and reduce its resource dependence while maintaining organizational autonomy and pursuing its vision. The approach avoids the pathologies produced through SP in such organisations.
Research limitations/implications
This study adds to empirical contexts in which strategy as way-finding may be practiced. This study explicitly shows how this may be very useful to smaller community-based Southern NGOs. This study also adds to the research on strategy as practice by showing its relevance in the NGO sector.
Practical implications
This study shows alternatives to NGOs that are reluctant to engage in SP. This study also shows how NGOs can benefit from the way-finding approach to strategic thinking to improve their community connect, autonomy and impact.
Social implications
This study provides alternatives to resisting the power asymmetry of the global North-South development agenda.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates the usefulness of the way-finding approach to strategy in the context of smaller Third-World NGOs and provides alternatives to SP.
This chapter introduces current debate on civil society collaborations in development and summarizes the contributions of this book to that debate. It relates these contributions to identified needs for transformation in the collaborations between civil society organizations from Global South and those from the Global North and reviews initiatives where such changes have been put into practice. The chapter also briefly describes the specific content of the other chapters included in the book.
This article discusses the characteristic and constraints of female entrepreneurs in rural tourism. The paper draws on a longitudinal case study following and comparing 26 microbusinesses and entrepreneurs in rural tourism in Norway (Global North) and Chile (Global South) from 2003 until 2020 (Nordbø, 2009, 2018, 2022). It responds to a call for more research on female entrepreneurship from different geographical locations, and from within an industry of great importance for the economic development and vitality of rural areas. The female entrepreneurs in the study stand out with reference to their motivation for running a business, their goals and economic aspirations, priorities, challenges and survival rates, among other things. The findings from the research show that although some of the differences and challenges are clearly related to the female entrepreneurs' embeddedness in national, regional and local contexts and historical path dependency, others are more global in scale and related to the spread and diffusion of Western ideas of entrepreneurship and rural economic development. Female entrepreneurs in rural tourism, more than men, and independent of Global North – Global South location, can become locked into path-dependent trajectories related to rural tourism as an economic sector, tourism entrepreneurship as a rural economic development strategy, and the history of place. The article suggests it is vital to understand and differentiate between such factors in order to be able to provide more accurate initiatives for the empowerment and business survival of female entrepreneurs in rural areas, in both the Global North as well as the Global South.
This concluding chapter illustrates the logic of political survivalPolitical survival of Southeast Asian authoritarianAuthoritarianrulersRuler, and the logical consequencesConsequences of the social movementsSocial movementof CSOsCivil society organisation (CSO). This chapter conceptualises the relations between economicEconomic structures and political survivalPolitical survival, arguing that economicEconomic performance, institutionally designed to distribute rentRent among the winning coalitionsWinning coalition (ruling elitesElites), explains the foundational logic of an authoritarianAuthoritarianruler’sRuleroffice tenureoffice tenure. The consequencesConsequences of movementsMovement of the weakWeak, such as grassroots communitiesGrassroots communityand CSOsCivil society organisation (CSO), against the foundations of political survivalPolitical survival are contingent on the rulersRuler’ rational calculationCalculation of concessionConcession and repressionRepression, and the combinationCombination of these responses. As concessionsConcession have the potential to lead dangerously to more substantial concessionsConcession, and thus to ultimately invite regimeRegime change, a combinationCombination of the two measures is the logical response of authoritarianAuthoritarianrulersRuler and their winning coalitionsWinning coalition. Drawing in particular on the cases of CambodiaCambodia, MalaysiaMalaysia and IndonesiaIndonesia and, generally, on the situation in Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia, the way in which social movementsSocial movement of grassroots communitiesGrassroots communityand CSOsCivil society organisation (CSO) adapt their repertoire vis-à-vis the authoritarianAuthoritarian rule is explored. Finally, the chapter presents how ‘small’ players outside the meshes of powerPower have been able to contribute to leadership change in Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia.
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Zimbabwe have been widely regarded as drivers of socioeconomic transformation in many poor rural communities. Their contribution has long been questioned by the government, as they were accused of being 'agents' of Western imperialism hiding under the 'mask' of development aid. This paper interrogates the aspect of accountability, which is a good-governance imperative, to assess if NGOs are transparent and accountable in managing donor funds in their poverty alleviation programmes in Mwenezi District, Zimbabwe. The paper employs a qualitative research approach that draws its data from four NGOs that were purposively selected as case studies due to their roles in poverty alleviation in the district. Data for the paper was collected using semi-structured interviews and documents: NGO staff were interviewed as key informants based on their knowledge and participation in poverty alleviation programmes. Findings of this paper revealed that NGOs struggled to uphold accountability in poverty alleviation programmes due to poor governance structures, limited skills, political interference, and poor monitoring and evaluation techniques. The implications of this paper are that for NGOs to be sustainable in the highly politicised environment in Zimbabwe, they need to effectively uphold accountability to the government and communities they serve. Whereas decentralising services is of paramount importance to increased decision making, NGOs need to portray innovative leadership, which is key to attracting donor funding.
As popular forms of organising increasingly serve as sites for change in Africa, institutionalised private philanthropy, which has generally stayed away from such activist spaces is slowly engaging. While anecdotal knowledge exists, evidence-based analysis on these relationships is scarce. This study explored how African movements experience and see the role and nature of philanthropy in relation to their own functioning and objectives. It highlighted that it is not merely a question of whether it is appropriate for institutional philanthropy to engage, but the ‘how’ of engagement that matters most. As a result, different challenges and limitations emerged. The research reflected critical concerns raised by movements about philanthropic orientation, ideology, and practice, and called for radical mindset shifts from institutional philanthropy – particularly on aspects such as power, control, accountability, and impact – and provided practical observations for consideration.
На основе исследования «профессионализации» НКО – процесса бюрократизации, возникновения «экспертного знания» и сообщества третьего сектора – статья рассматривает распространение культуры чаепитий в России с точки зрения ее значения для деятельности НКО. Ставится вопрос о том, как культура потребления чая рассматривается в дискуссиях об активном долголетии (active ageing) и построении идентичности сообщества третьего сектора. Данные об отношении к чаепитиям получены в результате качественного социологического исследования 16 НКО, занимающихся оказанием негосударственной заботы и социальных услуг людям старшего возраста в Санкт-Петербурге. На основе полуструктурированных интервью, включенных наблюдений и анализа документов приводятся аргументы, свидетельствующие, что профессионализированные НКО – небольшое и относительно закрытое сообщество, связанное общими проектами, идеологией («активного старения») и представлениями об организационной деятельности, рассматривают чаепития через призму «бесполезности» для развития третьего сектора и «гражданской культуры» в России. Чаепития воспринимаются своеобразной оппозицией такой культуре, выступая в роли примера крайней степени «неэффективности», «неустойчивости», т. е. всего того, против чего выступают профессионализированные НКО. Основной темой статьи является место чаепития как социальной услуги в дискурсе о «хорошей заботе» среди НКО, оказывающих социальные услуги пожилым людям (на примере Санкт-Петербурга). Чаепитие в данном случае выступает характерной и распространенной формой социальных услуг, отношение к которой существенно отличается среди представителей НКО в зависимости от степени их вовлеченности в профессиональное сообщество. Cделан вывод о том, что использование чаепитий (как социальных услуг для людей старшего возраста) в деятельности НКО является своеобразным водоразделом, по которому профессиональное сообщество третьего сектора судит о принадлежности или непринадлежности организаций третьего сектора к «профессиональному» сообществу. В заключении предлагаются несколько направлений для потенциальных исследований практик чаепития с точки зрения изучения гражданского общества и трансформации политической культуры.
This literature review is the result of collaboration between Wageningen University & Research, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Lehigh University.
It was conducted in the context of the research programme Supporting the political role of CSOs for inclusive development. Assumptions underlying Dialogue and Dissent. This research programme aims to strengthen the evidence-base of the core assumptions of the Theory of Change underlying the civil society policy framework ‘Dialogue and Dissent’ of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This new research report from the Civil Society Research Collective shows why Southern leadership in CSO advocacy collaborations makes perfect sense. We propose a way forward on this that doesn't marginalize Northern CSOs but capitalizes on complementary strengths. How? We call it Starting from the South.
This paper argues that NGOisation is a structural factor that fundamentally altered the field of feminist activism in Serbia during the 1990s so that new members of NGOs faced established hierarchies that favoured the older generation. Drawing on 14 in-depth interviews with young Serbian feminists from five key organisations, I conducted a narrative analysis that unearthed three main viewpoints. First, there is a perception that NGOisation makes “failing solidarity” possible – in relation both to other organisations and to younger members of the same NGO – but does not prescribe it. The ultimate culprit is therefore seen to be the older generation and leads to self-exclusion from activism, or at least a partial withdrawal. The second viewpoint takes a more understanding stance. The older generation's unwillingness to give younger feminists more space is regarded not as a choice but as a logical outcome of NGOisation. These younger feminists are neither disappointed nor angry, but they draw the conclusion that feminist activism needs to change. They therefore turn to a grassroots festival that gives them the sense of equality and ownership they need. Finally, there are also young feminists for whom neither NGOisation nor the generational divide are an issue. Their narrative suggests that there can be an absence of divisions as long as young feminists embrace the role of learners who strictly follow the line of their leader. Overall, this research shows the contribution NGOisation theory can make to generational analysis. It further highlights for the first time that generational divides exist within Serbian activism, but that they are not necessarily connected to NGOisation, and that there are also alternatives.
All non–governmental organizations (NGOs) rely on funding to support their work. But how does the source of funding shape the types of advocacy groups engage in? Using novel panel data collected by the Environmental Funders Network, this research examines how funding from government, foundations, business, and members shape the advocacy work of environmental NGOs (ENGOs) in the UK. Past research suggests that elite funding sources channel groups into institutional advocacy, such as lobbying or litigation, and away from public advocacy, such as protesting. This paper confirms previous research while also showing that all types of funding channel group actions. Foundation and business funding is associated with more institutional advocacy, government funding is associated with non–political advocacy such as species conservation, and member funding is associated with public advocacy. By comparing across funding types, this study demonstrates the ways in which groups are both helped and hindered by funding from different sources.
Cambridge Core - Political Sociology - State-Sponsored Activism - by Jessica A. J. Rich
Research on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in collective action predicts they will not interact with grassroots groups, citing partnerships with corporations and states, the apolitical delivery of social services and accountability towards donors as disconnecting professionalized actors from volunteer-based grassroots groups. Using interviews with core activists in the movement confronting Canadian resource extraction abroad, I depart from this approach by investigating the mechanisms, or threads, that bind organizations into coordinated action. I find that NGOs and grassroots groups coordinate as a result of: shared values and environmental justice frames; the allocation of resources; and engagement in complimentary forms of advocacy driven by a division of labour and a diversity of tactics. My research develops existing approaches to theorizing coordinated action and invites scholarship on NGOization to include the conceptual toolkit provided by social movement theories to better account for NGO–grassroots dynamics.
For the first time in one collected volume, mainstream and critical human rights scholars together examine the empirical and normative debates around the future of human rights. They ask what makes human rights effective, what strategies will enhance the chances of compliance, what blocks progress, and whether the hope for human rights is entirely misplaced in a rapidly transforming world. Human Rights Futures sees the world as at a crucial juncture. The project for globalizing rights will either continue to be embedded or will fall backward into a maelstrom of nationalist backlash, religious resurgence and faltering Western power. Each chapter talks directly to the others in an interactive dialogue, providing a theoretical and methodological framework for a clear research agenda for the next decade. Scholars, graduate students and practitioners of political science, history, sociology, law and development will find much to both challenge and provoke them in this innovative book.
LGBT advocacy is an emergent site attracting transnational funding from an expanded set of donor types that now include private corporations, national governments, NGOs, intergovernmental organizations and public–private partnerships. This article discusses LGBT advocacy as involving an expanded range of issues that go beyond a traditional focus on HIV/AIDS prevention. The geographical focus is on Singapore and Malaysia, two Southeast Asian countries where homosexuality is officially illegal. Alongside the global politics of LGBT rights, previous critiques about external funding and North/South asymmetries in transnational aid raise questions about its effectiveness for transformative socio‐political change, and its political and theoretical implications. Three case studies are examined: Pink Dot Singapore, and the PT Foundation and Kuala Lumpur activist workshops in Malaysia. The data demonstrate the capacity for transnational support to contribute to grassroots activism and coalitional politics. However, significant observable outcomes are currently limited, partly because most of the grants are modest, and Singapore and Malaysia's high‐ and middle‐income status excludes them from various funding bodies. Furthermore, domestic resistance to transnational funding has emerged, constituting more widespread discourses in which anti‐LGBT sentiment is framed in terms of opposing Western encroachments and the dominance of the global North.
Scholars and policymakers argue that donors can pursue development goals without bolstering autocratic regimes by bypassing recipient governments and channeling aid through intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations. However, I argue that bypass aid can subsidize government transfers to citizens and thus reduce popular resistance to autocrats. By providing goods and services that benefit individuals under the status quo, bypass aid may affect citizens’ willingness to challenge an incumbent regime. In particular, aid may lower the concessions that an autocrat needs to make to, on the one hand, deter unrest or, on the other hand, increase the opportunity costs of political resistance. As such, aid may have political effects regardless of whether or not recipient governments have managerial control over aid. Statistical tests show that bypass aid is associated with less frequent domestic unrest in autocracies. To address potential endogeneity, I use an original data set that records instances in which governments are suspected of, or actually caught, misusing aid to proxy for the distribution of aid across channels.
What survival strategies, mechanisms and tactics do gender rights activists in Romania and Poland use, in an environment of changing foreign aid? In order to tackle these aspects, the first part of the article analyses the issue of foreign aid and civil society sector in the two countries. In the second part, the analysis focuses on organizational mechanisms and procedures aimed at replacing resources when donors withdraw aid. The last part discusses unintentional positive and negative effects of scarce financial resources on the local and national level and aid reduction from international donors. The article shows that regardless of financial aspects, activists struggle to keep organizations alive, while adopting similar strategies in different cultural and political contexts.
The revolutionary changes which followed the two world wars created fora and structures that promoted debates on women's rights, By the beginning of the 1990s however, the international context in which the struggle for the advance of women's rights was being waged had been transformed. Debates being actively promoted today twist the very premises and values on which the movement had been based. It is against the background of these developments which have influenced the women's movement in India that one must evaluate the goals and directions of the movement and locate its strengths and weaknesses.
This article examines the political interactions in Nicaragua between the NGO-based feminist movement and government institutions on the issue of women's health in the mid-1990s. Analysis of the Nicaraguan feminist movement yields insight into the ability of NGO-based movements to influence state policy and into the strengths and limits of using NGOs as an institutional base on which to build a social movement. By defining the mechanisms of state-NGO interactions and analyzing the democratic potential of an NGO-based social movement, this article contributes to understanding of both NGOs and social movements in the context of newly democratic governments.
The women's movement has with varying degrees of success negotiated with the changing socio-political contexts in India. However, change is slow and painful and the lives of a large section of Indian women have only marginally improved. The contemporary Indian women's movement is still accused of being westernised and unIndian. An important task for the movement thus is to vocally locate the feminist struggle in its diverse Indian cultural and historical settings. It is also imperative that the women's movement begins the task of recreating spaces and building bridges so that its various fragments can once again be fitted into the larger jigsaw.
Promoting Polyarchy is an exciting, detailed, and controversial work on the apparent change in US foreign policy from supporting dictatorships to an 'open' promotion of 'democratic' regimes. William I. Robinson argues that behind the façade of 'democracy promotion', the policy is designed more to retain the elite-based and undemocratic status quo of Third World countries than to encourage mass aspirations for democratization. He supports this challenging argument with a wealth of information garnered from field work and hitherto unpublished government documents, and assembled in case studies of the Philippines, Chile, Nicaragua, Haiti, South Africa, and the former Soviet Bloc. With its combination of theoretical and historical analysis, empirical argument, and bold claims, Promoting Polyarchy is an essential book for anyone concerned with democracy, globalization and international affairs.
This book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the contemporary Russian women's movement and of the social, political, economic, historical, and international contexts that surround it. Valerie Sperling paints a vivid portrait of the women's movement's formation and development, paying particular attention to the key challenges facing a social movement in post-communist society, including the virtual absence of civil society, constant flux in political institutions, wrenching economic changes, and the movement's own status in a changing transnational environment. The author also addresses the specific challenges facing women's organizations by discussing societal attitudes towards feminism in Russia. Based on participant observation, primary source materials, and dozens of interviews conducted in Moscow (as well as two smaller Russian cities), the narrative brings alive the activists' struggle to build a social movement under difficult conditions, and sheds new light on the troubled and complex process of Russia's democratization.
Vast networks of professionals and activists who are feminists, or who are at least sensitive to women’s issues, are at work today in Chile and other Latin American countries. These networks are not only responsible for sustaining the work of grassroots organizations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) but are also engaged in the production of knowledge, including categories that become part of the moral repertoires used by the state. In other words, government agencies and nonprofit, party-based initiatives working on behalf of women rely heavily on the efforts of women positioned in these networks. Focusing on these vast and influential-though largely overlooked-networks makes the distinction between state and civil society increasingly problematic. Although Alfred Stepan has correctly reminded us that the state “structures relationships between civil society and public authority in a polity” in addition to structuring “many crucial relationships within civil society as well,” 1 to address the problem simply in these terms is unhelpful, since this structuring relies on important cultural resources from civil society itself.
In Reproducing Inequities, M. Catherine Maternowska argues that we too easily overlook the political dynamics that shape choices about family planning. Through a detailed study of the attempt to provide modern contraception in the community of Cité Soleil, Maternowska demonstrates the complex interplay between local and global politics that so often thwarts well-intended policy initiatives
What is new in the current renewed emphasis on the role of the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the development process is the emerging view in global corporate sectors, shared in large measure by Rajiv Gandhi's governmen, according to which a freshly conceived private sector, including the NGOs, provide the new frontier of a dynamic technological integration of the world economy. This is to be achieved through a wide diffusion of liberalised, privatised efforts that is then drawn towards a single market for which the vast hinterlands are opened up, new (including intermediate) technologies are introduced in them and a high rate of economic surplus is generated for the metropolitan regions and the export market, all this done efficiently, cost-effeciively through cheap labour and raw materials, and in the framework of a competitive ethos which the principle of the market provides and which the state cannot. It is this that is new - the rapacious drive of a transnationaiised, technology-driven, capitalism which has also discovered that the earlier avenues of investment in urban industries like textiles, machine goods, steel, etc, are gradually drying up or getting too competitive and there is need to look for new froniiers that lie deep in the countryside. The earlier 'commanding heights' are giving place to new ones. For the former the state and its agencies were alright, in fact in some ways better than the private sector as the required investment in massive infrastructures could only be provided by the state. But for the latter the agencies of the state will not do. Hence, yet another shift in capitalist thinking on the rule of the state.
The organizational dynamics of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become increasingly complex as they have evolved from small local groups into sophisticated multinational organizations with global networks. Alnoor Ebrahim's study analyzes the organizational evolution of NGOs as a result of their increased profile as bilateral partners in delivering aid. Focusing on the relationships between NGOs and their international network of funders, it examines not only the tensions created by the reporting requirement of funders, but also the strategies of resistance employed by NGOs.
Why is the World Bank so successful? How has it gained power even at moments in history when it seemed likely to fall? This pathbreaking book is the first close examination of the inner workings of the Bank, the foundations of its achievements, its propensity for intensifying the problems it intends to cure, and its remarkable ability to tame criticism and extend its own reach. Michael Goldman takes us inside World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C., and then to Bank project sites around the globe. He explains how projects funded by the Bank really work and why community activists struggle against the World Bank and its brand of development. Goldman looks at recent ventures in areas such as the environment, human rights, and good governance and reveals how-despite its poor track record-the World Bank has acquired greater authority and global power than ever before. The book sheds new light on the World Bank's role in increasing global inequalities and considers why it has become the central target for anti-globalization movements worldwide. For anyone concerned about globalization and social justice, Imperial Nature is essential reading.
From labor organizers to immigrant activists, from environmentalists to human rights campaigners, from global justice protesters to Islamic militants, this book shows how ordinary people gain new perspectives, experiment with new forms of action, and sometimes emerge with new identities through their contacts across borders. It asks to what extent transnational activism changes domestic actors, their forms of claim making, and their prevailing strategies. Does it simply project the conflicts and alignments familiar from domestic politics onto a broader stage, or does it create a new political arena in which domestic and international contentions fuse? And if the latter, how will this development affect internationalization and the traditional division between domestic and international politics?
In this vivid ethnography, Harri Englund investigates how ideas of freedom impede struggles against poverty and injustice in emerging democracies. Reaching beyond a narrow focus on the national elite, Prisoners of Freedom shows how foreign aid and human rights activism hamper the pursuit of democratic citizenship in Africa. The book explores how activists aspirations of self-improvement, pursued under harsh economic conditions, find in the human rights discourse a new means to distinguish oneself from the poor masses. Among expatriates, the emphasis on abstract human rights avoids confrontations with the political and business elites. Drawing on long-term research among the Malawian poor, Englund brings to life the personal circumstances of Malawian human rights activists, their expatriate benefactors, and the urban and rural poor as he develops a fresh perspective on freedom-one that recognizes the significance of debt, obligation, and civil virtues.
Into the 1990s, Arab countries witnessed a rise in the number of terrorist attacks perpetrated by Islamist militants against governments, foreign targets, and citizens. In response to terrorism, governments throughout the Middle East and North Africa suppressed the civil and political rights of all citizens. This clampdown on civil society transpired on the heels of political reforms in several countries and coincided with the increasing integration of these states into international treaty regimes, signaling a willingness to comply with world standards on human rights. Engaging the literatures on terrorism, world polity, and social movements, I first analyze the relationship between political regime type and movement mobilization. Next I examine the impact of transnational terrorism on human rights mobilization. I use network analysis to show that, contrary to expectations of world polity theory and the boomerang hypothesis, activists ' ties to the transnational rights network thinned over the same time period (1980-2000) that these states became more integrated into international society through treaty ratification and memberships in intergovernmental organizations. The findings indicate that while the globalization of human rights has empowered human rights movements in non-democratic societies, state power continues to set limits on mobilizing capacities.
Through an examination of four sites of contention in Ecuador, this study explores the impacts of transnational campaigns on domestic organizations and community groups while holding constant the focus of conflict, the construction of an oil pipeline. The international organizations verified local claims, enabled access to international venues such as conferences and investor meetings, and influenced the financing of future large-scale projects. Yet, the transnational campaigns unintentionally emphasized environmental conservation at the expense of local dignity-in-life claims, resonated only with select groups, and potentially undermined domestic networking building. The Northern campaigns emphasized World Bank standards that were arguably weak on environmental protection, especially when compared to the environmental justice demands arising in the oil hubs. Indeed, community participation, environmental health regulation, and economic redistribution may be better achieved through grassroots efforts that target the state, rather than through transnational engagement dependent on international bodies and concerns.
This paper critically evaluates the theory of patronage and professional social movement organizations (SMOs) advanced by McCarthy and Zald (1973, 1975, 1977) and the social control theory advanced by their critics (McAdam, 1982; Wilson, 1983; Haines 1984a, 1984b) in interpreting the development of black insurgency. Drawing on time-series analysis of the patronage of private foundations, structural facilitators, and the changing goals, organization and forms of black insurgency between 1953-1980, we find support for the social control theory insofar as: 1) the black movement was an indigenous challenge with professional SMOs playing a secondary role; 2) elite patronage was reactive and directed at moderate classical SMOs and professional SMOs; 3) this patronage professionalized the movement, strengthening the staff in classical SMOs and creating new professional SMOs; and 4) these processes did not generate movement growth and may have accelerated movement decay. Yet, contrary to the social control theory, we also found that: 1) movement decay had multiple sources, professionalization being secondary to partial success and strategic problems; and 2) professionalization may have weakened the challenge but did not transform movement goals or tactics. "Channeling" may be a more apt metaphor than "control" for analyzing the effects of patronage and professionalization on social movement development.
Successive strategic portrayals of the rubber tappers' struggle helped reframe ideas about environmental protection and social equity. While local conditions shaped the movement's development, international political resources were provided by environmentalists' campaign around Multilateral Development Bank lending. The local struggle for material survival was identified with an emerging global concern for tropical forests, and the Acre rubber tappers became a paradigm for local participation in environmentally sustainable development. Defining an issue as "environmental" is thus a strategically consequential act that changes the political context of conflict.
Community-based and -driven development projects have become an important form of development assistance, with the World Bank's portfolio alone approximating $7 billion. A review of their conceptual foundations and evidence on their effectiveness shows that projects that rely on community participation have not been particularly effective at targeting the poor. There is some evidence that such projects create effective community infrastructure, but not a single study establishes a causal relationship between any outcome and participatory elements of a community-based development project. Most such projects are dominated by elites, and both targeting and project quality tend to be markedly worse in more unequal communities. A distinction between potentially "benevolent" forms of elite domination and more pernicious types of capture is likely to be important for understanding project dynamics and outcomes. Several qualitative studies indicate that the sustainability of community-based initiatives depends crucially on an enabling institutional environment, which requires government commitment, and on accountability of leaders to their community to avoid "supply-driven demand-driven" development. External agents strongly influence project success, but facilitators are often poorly trained, particularly in rapidly scaled-up programs. The naive application of complex contextual concepts like participation, social capital, and empowerment is endemic among project implementers and contributes to poor design and implementation. The evidence suggests that community-based and -driven development projects are best undertaken in a context-specific manner, with a long time horizon and with careful and well-designed monitoring and evaluation systems.
This book combines empirical insights into NGO's work in agriculture with wider considerations of their relations with the state and their contribution to democratic pluralism, contextualizing and synthesizing the case study material in previous volumes on Africa, Asia and Latin America. The chapters discuss: definitions, concepts and some reasons for the recent interest in NGOs; concepts for analysing NGO-state relationships; technologies, management practices and research methods in NGOs' work with agricultural change; relations between NGOs and the rural poor; and between them and the state. A final chapter uses the conclusions drawn from over 70 case studies to suggest where NGOs go from here in their relations with the poor, the state, donors and others. -M.Amos
At a time when democracy and human rights seem the panacea for all the world's ills, and salvation for Africa's poor is to be found in participation and partnership, Harri Englund's contention that "new freedoms entail new prisoners" is as important as it is heretical. Against prevailing wisdom, Englund shows how ideas of freedom and human rights have become a disempowering discourse, impeding struggles against poverty and injustice. While dissent may be more readily tolerated than in the one-party era, this book shows how the association of democracy and human rights with political and civil freedoms has effectively silenced public debates about inequality and marginalization in democratized African states such as Malawi.
Englund's theoretical framework is drawn from the literature on governmentality, while rich ethnographic fieldwork ensures that his critique is not focused merely on abstract concepts, but on the production and conduct of the actual subjects who put the concepts to specific uses. Englund's setting is postcolonial Malawi, where more than a decade of multipartyism has brought little change for the majority of people. The reasons for this are in large part to be found in the manner in which democracy and human rights have been interpreted by donors and human rights activists alike. Fluent in Chichewa, the national language of Malawi, Englund demonstrates how translations of key human rights documents in both Malawi and Zambia systematically translate "rights" as individual freedoms, silencing references to "entitlements" and social and economic rights. Thus the human rights discourse becomes not only largely irrelevant to the poor majority, but also actively disempowering, in that it neither allows for the formulation of claims toward the state or the international community, nor facilitates collective action. In civic education programs, as in legal aid, human rights activism promotes individual, technical solutions to structural problems of marginalization and exploitation, and thereby helps depoliticize and contain potential popular challenges to the state and transnational governance.
Whose interests are served by this interpretation of rights? Englund's answer is unsettling; in a nuanced and respectful analysis, he shows how a cultural disposition toward contempt for the poor leads human rights activists, even if poor themselves, to use the human rights discourse as a means to distinguish themselves from the "grassroots." In a harsh economic environment, various human rights programs become an answer to educated Malawians' desire to find occupations that bring them status. The non-elite mimic the elite in their encounters with those who have been related to the status of "the poor," and identify more readily with the interests of the expatriates and the economically powerful than with the intended beneficiaries of their activism. Accordingly, Englund concludes that substantive democracy requires much more than controlling or abolishing the elite. As for donors, they not only share a disposition toward elitism, but by emphasizing abstract rights they also avoid engagement with ostensibly "political" issues. Hence they prevent confrontation with those in positions of power and ensure the survival of their development projects.
This is an exceptional book and a powerful critique of dominant discourses. Eschewing easy dismissals of freedom and liberalism, Englund aims instead to unchain the minds of those who have become the prisoners of a specific kind of freedom, while retaining the idea of freedom for alternative projects of socioeconomic transformation. There can be few more urgent tasks, making this a book of tremendous importance.
This ethnographic study examines the transnational relations among feminist movements at the end of the twentieth century, exploring two differently situated women's organizations in the Northeast Brazilian state of Pernambuco. The conventional narrative of globalization tells the story of inexorable forces beyond the capacity of individuals to mute or transcend. But this study tells a different story, one of social actors purposefully weaving cross-border relationships. From this vantage point, global social forces are not immaculately conceived. Instead, they are constituted by human actors with their own interests and identities, located in particular social contexts. Making Transnational Feminism takes what some have called "global civil society" as its object, moving beyond both dire predictions and euphoric celebrations to understand how transnational political relationships are constructed and sustained across social and geographical divides. It also provides a compelling case study for use in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in globalization, gender studies, and social movements.
The practices of women's movement are continually being transformed to meet new challenges. Yet feminist politics is constantly confronted with a scepticism against institutionalised politics; it displays an uneasiness with the forms of power that dominate political processes. Similarly the politics of mainstreaming women's studies implies that feminist scholarship has had to cope with the complex web of relationships within academia dominated by a patriarchal academy and knowledge hierarchy. But as this paper explains, while institutional locations may also form their own sites of contest, the need for a renewed and sustained struggle from such locations, employing new interventions in the hope of transforming institutions, remains of crucial importance for the women's movement.