NGOs and States: Exploring National Diversity and Global Liberalism

Abstract

AbstractRecent assessments of relations between states and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) claim a global wave of state crackdowns, raising questions about the continued authority and influence of NGOs. The works reviewed here challenge the idea of a pattern of global conflict, demonstrating a range of ways in which states work with, through, and alongside NGOs. They also demonstrate that the diversity of NGO–state relations can make it difficult to generalize about these interactions across national contexts. One way to reconceptualize these relationships may be to focus on the normative commitments that states and NGOs do or do not share. Conflictual and cooperative NGO–state dynamics emerge from the many and sometimes contradictory liberal values that enabled the rise of NGOs. NGOs can embody three liberal values: visions of civil society can emphasize political freedoms, market-based visions of private action, or universalism. States may embrace some of these values while rejecting others. Thus, while the era of the unimpeded rise of NGOs may have come to an end, the shifting political spaces for NGOs do not spell an end to their influence.