NGOs, the state and civil society

Abstract

This article examines the validity of some of the objectives of nongovernmental organisations (hereafter NGOs) that are based in the donor states and operate in the third world. The author has personal experience in the evaluation of several Scandinavian NGOs working in Africa and takes a somewhat sceptical position as to the capacity of such NGOs to ‘construct’ civil society in African states. Inevitably, such NGOs are part of a wider system of development assistance, and their field operations ‐ particularly if they are to participate in the development of long‐term sustainable development ‐ will both inevitably reflect the nature of this system and have to work closely with existing state structures. On the other hand, in this new phase, the NGOs are outsiders which are, in an artificial way, entering into a process which ought to be much more genuinely and organically evolving out of the local context itself. How this is to be achieved is beyond the scope of this article.

From global politics to local land users: applying the United Nations Convention to combat desertification in Swaziland

“…At the broader level, the role of NGOs in implementing the UNCCD is paramount, as recognized throughout the text of the convention. However, very little is actually known about their efficiency and impact, let alone whether they are capable of delivering and fulfilling expectations (Marcussen 1996; Edwards and Hulme 1996). It must also be ensured that NGOs are not just seen as vehicles to provide legitimacy to international decision‐making processes (Gemmill and Bamidele‐Izu 2002) and that they offer a concrete institutional structure for participatory engagement at the grassroots level.…”

Transnational NGDOS and participatory forms of rights‐based development: converging with the local politics of citizenship in Cameroon

“…The second problem concerns the assumption that 'genuine' participation can only occur at the local level, which prevents a critical engagement with the wider power structures and institutions that underpin exclusion, to the extent that the 'micro-level of intervention can obscure, and indeed sustain, broader macrolevel inequalities and injustices' (Mohan, 2001, p. 166). This may weaken state accountability by separating local concerns from national politics (Marcussen, 1996), and lead to a peculiarly apolitical experience with participation. The final problem focuses on the accountability of NGDOs themselves, in a context in which NGDOs have become increasingly dependent on official aid funding (Hulme and Edwards, 1997).…”

Managing the state-civil society relations in public policy: Deliberative democracy vis-a-vis civil society movements in Malaysia

“…According to Hassan (2002), most of the civil societies or NGOs in Malaysia, except Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) and Dongjiaozong, do not have a mass base, which leaves them with little bargaining power vis-à-vis the state, even if they are vocal and to some extent influential in their advocacy and dissemination of opinions over broad fields of legal and human rights. Some of the NGOs may not realise that, paradoxically, strengthening civil society by extending political participation requires the precondition of strengthening the state (Marcussen, 1996). From this point of view, because the Malaysian state continues its commitment of conducting regular general elections, the space available to NGOs and other political groups remains an important marker of possibilities for enhancing civil society.…”