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NGOs, civil society and democratization: a critical review of the literature
Abstract
One of the most striking features of the anglophone literature on NGOs is the diversity of NGO sectors and their contributions to civil society and democracy; yet, exploration of this complexity is often eschewed in favour of a normative approach in which the apparently mutually enhancing relationship between NGOs, civil society and the state is underpinned by liberal democratic assumption rather than an engagement with wider debates about the politics of development. Following a critique of this approach to NGOs, civil society and democracy, the paper argues that the role of NGOs in the politics of development is far more complex than much of the NGO literature would suggest, and calls for a more contextualized and less value-laden approach to the understanding of the political role of NGOs.
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Citations
Cited by
NGOs, States, and Donors Revisited: Still Too Close for Comfort?
Banks, N., Hulme, D., & Edwards, M. (2015) · World Development · doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.09.028 · Cited by 772
“When it comes to realizing goals of empowerment, social justice, and transformation we must be careful to distinguish between NGOs and other civil society organizations such as labor unions or social movements which act in, and are affected by, the politics of development in different ways (Clarke, 1998; Fisher, 1997;…”
BackgroundInfluentialBeyond NGO‐ization?: Reflections from Latin America
Alvarez, S. E. (2009) · Development · doi:10.1057/dev.2009.23 · Cited by 375
Isgren, E., & Ness, B. (2017) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su9081357 · Cited by 60
Post-conflict democratization, foreign funding, and NGO-ization of civil society in Somalia
Marian, A. M., Farouk, A. F. A., Khelghat-Doost, H., & Jaafar, F. (2025) · Полис. Политические исследования · doi:10.17976/jpps/2025.04.06
Metadata
- Authors
- Mercer, C.
- Venue
- Progress in Development Studies
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2002-01
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 5-22
- ISSN
- 1464-9934 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-027X
- OpenAlex
- W2096831870
- Cited by
- 547
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 38.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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