The weight of the state

Abstract

In the context of weak or corrupt states, service provision through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has offered a critical path for reaching otherwise underserved populations. Polarizing debate on whether NGOs strengthen or weaken state capacity continues, but misses the changing nature of NGO-state interactions. Subject to international funding streams and domestic government pressures, NGOs operate in a liminal space. This dissertation employs a qualitative, case study approach comprised of interviews with representatives of NGOs, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), and government representatives, as well as content analysis and archival research to examine how NGOs navigate this uncertain political environment in Bangladesh. It is comprised of three empirical articles. In the first article, I investigate why organizations prioritize programs in rural areas versus urban areas, despite rapid urbanization and increased need in urban areas. I challenge past scholarship on urban bias by examining influences on resource allocation outside of the realm of the state and maintain that accounting for the role of non-state actors changes the landscape of resource allocation. Further, I argue that in the case of Bangladesh, spatialized political networks are facilitated by differing structures of government accountability and differing levels of community acceptance, thus influencing the location of non-state service provision. In the second article, I investigate why NGOs have recently shifted from social mobilization programs to service provision. Contrary to literature that emphasizes international influences on NGO agenda setting, I argue that the government's increasing regulation of international aid, and subsequent de-emphasis of politically oriented NGO activity, reflects the Bangladesh government's strategic attempts to consolidate power as they accentuate international aid paradigms' prioritization of economic growth, to the detriment of other aspects of development. Finally, in the third article I develop a model illustrating how governments mediate between international awareness following high profile events and domestic priorities, leading to narrowing, legitimizing, or proliferating NGO activities. In doing so, I further expand literature that typically emphasizes international influences on NGO agendas by investigating domestic policy priorities. Additionally, I extend policy literature on focusing events by accounting for contexts in which NGOs are vital service providers. I then use this model to analyze three policy domains in Bangladesh: garments workers' rights, terrorism, and climate change. I argue that international attention leads to a synergistic effect between international and domestic government priorities as the state mediates the interaction between international regimes and NGOs. This dissertation includes three different investigations into how NGOs set their agendas as they balance sub-national development priorities, restrictive national policies, and international funding paradigms simultaneously. Its cumulative findings suggest that though NGOs do fill in gaps, they are also influenced by the state in which they operate.