The NGO Moment

Abstract

This book is a study of compassion as a global project from Biafra to Live Aid. Kevin O'Sullivan explains how and why NGOs became the primary conduits of popular concern for the global poor between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s and shows how this shaped the West's relationship with the post-colonial world. Drawing on case studies from Britain, Canada and Ireland, as well as archival material from governments and international organisations, he sheds new light on how the legacies of empire were re-packaged and re-purposed for the post-colonial era, and how a liberal definition of benevolence, rooted in charity, justice, development and rights became the dominant expression of solidarity with the Third World. In doing so, the book provides a unique insight into the social, cultural and ideological foundations of global civil society. It reveals why this period provided such fertile ground for the emergence of NGOs and offers a fresh interpretation of how individuals in the West encountered the outside world.

The Tana-Beles Project in Ethiopia and the Making of Postcolonial Humanitarianism, 1938–1994

“…Furthermore, co-operation between the Ethiopian authorities and Italian companies lasted well beyond the rule of the DERG and the emergency phaseas the involvement of Pietrangeli and Salini in the GERD project showsand it accompanied the expansion of the two Italian firms in the global business of infrastructure construction. 105 The end of empires undoubtedly strengthened the international nature of humanitarianism, 106 but it also favoured its connections to globalization in terms of capital circulation, integration of markets, and movement of goods. 107 Seen from the perspective of the Tana-Beles project, the story of international mobilization against famine extends well before and beyond the mid-1980s.…”

Archipelagic geographies, civil society, and global development

“…While there is a long global history of diverse forms of associational life, non-governmental actors gained momentum in the global development context in the 1960s and 1970s (O'Sullivan, 2021). The idea of civil society came to the fore in the early 1990s in response to liberal democratising and market liberalising reforms in the global South, with civil society building an integral part of the World Bank's good governance agenda (Banks et al, 2015).…”