NGOs, Civil Society, and the State in Bangladesh: The Politics of Representing the Poor

Abstract

The established rhetoric of opposition between state and NGOs as development agents has shifted to one of complementarity and common interest. Along with this, the`comparative advantage' claimed for NGOs has expanded from economic and welfare bene®ts to encompass also the political goods of civil society and popular participation. This paper reviews these developments in the context of Bangladesh. It argues that they need to be assessed critically in ways which are both theoretically informed and locally contextualized. While recognizing that there are, indeed, areas of common experience and interest between the state and NGOs in Bangladesh, it questions whether these necessarily coincide with the interests of those they all invoke: the poor.

Globalization and the reinvention of Andean tradition: The politics of community and ethnicity in highland Bolivia

“…In Africa, state-run programmes for participatory development and decentralization have been nearly as widespread as in Latin America: for example, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Botswana and South Africa to name but a few [Shou, 2000;Crook and Manor, 1998;Good, 1996;Mohan, 1996;Steifel and Wolfe, 1994;Erikson, Naustalstid and Shou, 1999]. In Asia various experiments with state-sponsored programmes for popular participation in development and decentralization have also been undertaken, in India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Nepal and China [Crook and Manor, 1998;Webster, 1992Webster, , 1999Zuo, 1997;White, 1999]. Programmes for democratic local governance have also been introduced as part of the package of reform in a number of European and former Soviet Union countries [Blair, 2000].…”

Politicized Civil Society in Bangladesh: Case Study Analyses

“…However, it is also fact, that civil society influenced by conflicting political parties often has become polarized, corrupt and ineffective in democratic terms (Quadir 2003). Moreover, CSOs, including the development NGOs in Bangladesh, appear to have entered the long patron-client chains running from top government leaders down to the periphery of Bangladesh; similarly, NGOs have often been accused of becoming new patrons for the poor (Lewis 2004;White 1999;Hashemi 1996). Although Bangladesh is ethnically homogenous and casteless, its society is vertically constructed and politically polarized.…”

Wither Participatory Banking? Experiences with Village Banks in South Africa

“…Others have warned of the dangers of cultural relativism and have argued for more analysis of "actually existing civil society" rather than ascribe normative attributes of participation in practice (Lewis, 2002, Williams, 2004. As a battery of authors note, CSOs in practice can fall short of their own ideals, relying upon bounded rules and disciplined forms of participation with limited opportunities for spontaneous dialogue (Cooke and Kothari, 2001, Hearn, 2001, White, 1999). …”