NGOs, States and Donors Too Close for Comfort?

In 1997 we investigated the ways in which NGO-State-Donor relationships have changed the role that NGOs play in development, asking whether their growing popularity had helped them to 'solve' the problems of poverty or had changed them to become part of the 'development industry' that they used to criticize. Using case studies of African, Asian and Latin American NGOs, we highlighted that the evidence suggested that NGOs were 'losing their roots' – getting close to donors and governments and more distant from the poor beneficiaries they sought to assist. Since the book was first published, NGOs have continued to rise in number, scale and prominence, but our concerns have been little redressed and our argument remains strong today. The new Preface and Afterword to this IPE Classic provide an up to date review of the literature and debates on NGOs and the development sector that consolidate on this argument and look briefly at some of the reactions it has received.

David Hulme is Professor of Development Studies at the University of Manchester, UK, and Director of the Brooks World Poverty Institute. He heads the University's Institute for Development Policy and Management and is Chief Executive Officer of the Effective States for Inclusive Development Research Consortium.

Michael Edwards is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos, New York, USA and the editor of Transformation@openDemocracy. His recent books include the Oxford Handbook of Civil Society, Civil Society, and Small Change: Why Business Won't Save the World.

Foreword; T.M. Shaw
Preface; David Hulme, M.Edwards and N.Banks
PART 1: NGOs, STATES AND DONORS: AN OVERVIEW AND KEY ISSUES
1. NGOs, States and Donors: An Overview; D.Hulme and M.Edwards
2. Donors, Democratization and Civil Society: Relating Theory to Practice; H.Blair
3. The State, Popular Participation and the Voluntary Sector; J.Clark
4. Privatising the Voluntary Sector: NGOs as Public Service Contractors; M.Robinson
5. States Without Citizens: The Problem of the Franchise State; G.Wood
6. Finding Common Ground in Asia-Pacific Development; H.Morales and I.Serrano
PART 2: NGO-DONOR RELATIONSHIPS: WHEN YOUR HAND IS IN ANOTHER PERSON'S POCKET...?
7. Heavy Hands, Hidden Hands, Holding Hands? Donors, Intermediary NGOs and Civil Society Organisations; A.Bebbington and R.Riddell
8. Appeasing the Gods of Sustainability: The Future of International NGOs in Microfinance; T.Dichter
9. World Vision International and Donors: Too Close for Comfort?; S.Commins
10. In Unequal Dialogue with Donors: The Experience of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement; J.Perera
11. Elephant Loose in the Jungle: The World Bank and NGOs in Sri Lanka; R. Hodson
PART 3: NGO-STATE RELATIONSHIPS: RELUCTANT PARTNERS REVISITED?
12. The Associative Phenomenon in the Arab World: Engine of Democratization or Witness to the Crisis?; M.Marzouk
13. NGO-State Relations in Post-Mao China; J.Howell
14. The State-NGO Relationship: Rights, Interests and Accountability; R.Wanigaratne
15. NGOs and Development in Brazil: Roles and Responsibilities in a 'New World Order'; M.Bosch
16. Mice Amongst the Tigers: Adding Value in NGO-Government Relations in South East Asia; R.Mawer
PART 4: NGOs, THE POOR AND DISADVANTAGED: RETURNING TO THE ROOTS?
17. Between Cooption and Irrelevance? Latin American NGOs in the 1990s; J.Pearce
18. Conclusion; D.Hulme and M.Edwards
Afterword; D.Hulme, M.Edwards and N.Banks