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.