The World Bank and NGOs

Abstract

The role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society in global development seems to be commanding additional attention in the post-Cold War period. Perhaps this is a result of the realization that past practices, particularly state-centred and state-directed development, have failed to bring about sustainable growth in most parts of the South. Or perhaps, in the context of contemporary, deflationary economics (see Chapter 4 above), donor states are neither able nor willing to make sufficient capital available to the South, given the absence of political and economic returns they might receive. Or perhaps it is the emerging expectation that democratic politics should be closely associated with economic development. Most likely, of course, the increased interest in the role of civil society and non-governmental organizations in development is some combination of these kinds of reasons (see Chapters 9, 14 and 15).