Development of NGOs and civil society Deborah Eade

About the Book: Development, NGOs and Civil Society The rise of neo-liberalism and the so-called WashingtonConsensus have generated a powerful international ideologyconcerning what constitutes good governance, democratisation, andthe proper roles of the State and civil society in advancingdevelopment. As public spending has declined, the non-governmentsector has benefited very significantly from taking on aservice-delivery role. At the same time, non-governmentorganisations (NGOs), as representatives of civil society, are aconvenient medium through which official agencies can promotepolitical pluralism. But can NGOs simultaneously facilitategovernments withdrawal from providing basic services for all andalso claim to represent the poor and the disenfranchised? Are NGOslegitimate political actors in their own right? Jenny Pearceintroduces papers which describe some of the tensions inherent inthe roles currently played by NGOs, and asks whether theseorganisations truly stand for anything fundamentally different fromthe agencies on whose "largesse" they increasingly depend. About the Author: Deborah Eade Deborah Eade has worked in the NGO sector for 20 years and isEditor of "Development in Practice."