International NGO Engagement, Advocacy, Activism ─ The Faces and Spaces of Change

The world of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) has dramatically changed during the last two decades. The sector has become highly professionalised in fundraising, branding and marketing, as well as in the communications with their supporters. The author critically analyses the engagement of INGOs within the contemporary international development landscape, enabling readers to further understand INGOs involvement in the politics of social change in a shifting terrain involving: INGO strategic organisational reconfigurations into networks of networks; new and dynamic deliberative spaces; and the dynamic spaces of digital and virtual interactive environments. Yanacopulos argues that INGOs need to utilise political values and political spaces more strategically if they are to be better agents of change. Looking at the ways they engage with the public, INGOs need to re-evaluate their strategies and further explore their utilisation of established and new political spaces.

Helen Yanacopulos is Senior Lecturer in International Politics and Development at the Open University, UK. She has worked with, and researched, international NGOs and civil society networks since 1994. She has been an academic consultant for the BBC as well as for numerous NGOs and multilateral organisations, and is also Series Editor for the book series'Development Matters'.