Development NGOs, civil society and social change

This chapter examines the history and social, economic and political context for the emergence of development NGOs and the major debates surrounding their emergence. It identifies themes and tensions in NGO activism and details the rise of international development NGOs in relation to the United Nations and the emergence of global civil society. It examines critiques of the rise of managerialism and NGO-ization and the issue of Eurocentrism and current problems of defunding, repression and selectivity. The chapter examines the potentials and disappointments of human rights for development NGOs and critically questions the accountability agenda for NGOs in a world of narrowing public spaces.