*Topicality/Definitions Democracy Promotion Includes Military Intervention


Anti-Corruption Efforts Fail: Overestimates Role of Civil Society



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Anti-Corruption Efforts Fail: Overestimates Role of Civil Society



ANTI-CORRUPTION PROGRAMS WRONG ABOUT THE ROLE OF NGOS AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN CHALLENGING STATE CORRUPTION

John Gledhill, Anthropology Professor, University of Manchester, 2004, Between Morality and the Law: corruption, anthropology, and comparative society, ed. I. Pardo, p. 156

Finally, although the focus in discussions of corruption tends to be public administration and the blurring of boundaries between public and private interests, I argue that capital is increasingly central to the dynamics of corruption in the contemporary world. This makes the assumption that the forces of capitalist globalization will moralize our lives extremely implausible. Even if other dimensions of globalization, such as the role of transnational NGO networks, may ‘empower’ certain social actors (such as indigenous movements) in struggles for recognition by national states, and fortify reformist civic rights groups, their role is often much more contradictory. In the case of Africa, Chabal and Daloz argue that far from advancing a shift of power from “the state” to “civil society,” NGOs “are often nothing other than the new ‘structures’ with which Africans can seek to establish an instrumentally profitable position with the existing system of neo-patrimonialism” (Chabal and Daloz 1999, p. 22).
DONOR-DRIVEN ANTI-CORRUPTION PROGRAMS OVERSIMPLIFY AND IGNORE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY

Elizabeth Harrison, Anthropology Lecturer University of Sussex, 2004, Between Morality and the Law: corruption, anthropology, and comparative society, ed. I. Pardo, p. 137



Much of the donors’ concern with corruption in Africa tends towards simplification and a focus on finding solutions rather than comprehension. There has also been tendency to look for the cause of the problem among Africans themselves rather than in their relationship to (for example) western companies offering bribes or to the role of aid itself in perpetuating corruption. Acknowledgement that aid opens up many avenues for corrupt practice and is frequently intimately involved with this, is only just beginning to emerge. Lastly, liberalization agendas suggest an overextended state and celebrate the potential of civil society, while paradoxically failing to understand the mutual embeddedness of state and civil society.

*Aid to/Through NGOs Bad*



US Democracy Assistance Channeled Through NGOs


US PREFERENCE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY ASSISTANCE IS THROUGH NGOs

Doyle Stevick, Education Professor-University of South Carolina, 2008, Advancing Democracy Through Education: US influence abroad and domestic practices, eds. E. Stevic & B. Levinson, p. 102

Robert Putnam’s book, Making Democracy Work, published soon after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, became quite influential and his emphasis upon social capital was closely linked to civil society. Civil society advocates often behaved as though the creation of civil society was not only a key goal, but one that could be accomplished by providing large infusions of foreign money and expertise. Such an approach disregarded the forces that lead to the development of civil society institutions in the first place.

The U.S.’s strong preference for civil society organizations meant that that money was channeled both through American NGOs, as distributors of funds and as providers of technical assistance, and into postcommunist countries’ NGOs, as recipients and providers of services, among other functions. Both American and postcommunist organizations lobbied and competed for access to this substantial new stream of revenue. “By the end of 1999, the U.S. had obligated $379 million to promote political party development, independent media, governance, and recipient NGOs” (Wedel, 2001, p. 86). The European Union (EU) did not lag far behind in its civil society investments, providing through its PHARE program approximately $194 million for civil society by early 1998 (p. 87). In any case, “Americans tended to talk the loudest about establishing civil societies in the region” (p. 86).
US WORKS THROUGH NGOs TO BUILD UP CIVIL SOCIETY NOW

Patrick Cronin & Tarek Ghani, Director-International Institute for Strategic Studies & Policy Assistant-Center for Global Development, 2007, Security By Other Means: foreign assistance, global poverty, and American leadership, ed. L. Brainard, p. 203

Today, MEPI provides smaller grants to American and Arab nongovernmental organizations in hopes of strengthening Arab civil society and democratic governance. MEPI has provided parliamentary and municipal election support in Bahrain and women’s legal rights training in Morocco (the political pillar), provided technical assistance for commercial law development in Algeria and trade technical assistance to Bahrain (the economic pillar), helped to set up the Internet in schools in Yemen and created an Arab-language early reading program across the region (the education pillar),and created a family protection program in Jordan and entrepreneurship training for women across the region (the women’s empowerment pillar).


Aiding NGOs Fails: Front Line


AID THROUGH NGOs INCREASES BUREAUCRATIC DEMANDS ON GOVERNMENTS

Bishwambher Pyakuryal, Economics Professor-Tribhuvan University, et al, 2008, Is Foreign Aid Working? An analysis of aid effectiveness and growth, p. xix-xx



There is a new paradigm shift in the foreign assistance as more and more donors are transferring their aid through INGO s and NGOs under the pretext that these funds tend to go more to the needy people/areas. It demands an increased role of the government regarding proper monitoring and follow-up of the activities. It also necessitates the careful assessment of projects/programs under implementation and their compatibility with the national policies, priorities and goals. Transparency is as much a necessity on the part of donors as the recipient. The mechanism of fund transfer by donor agencies to the INGOs/NGOs should therefore be accounted for in all cases.
COMPETITION AMONG NGOs FOR FUNDS LIMITS THEIR EFFECTIVENESS

Dirk-Jan Koch, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2009, Aid from International NGOs: blind spots on the aid allocation map, p. 1



The number of international NGOs runs into the thousands. Umbrella organizations of international NGOs in the OECD countries had more than 2,500 members in 2008. Coordination among organizations is known to be difficult, especially when large groups are involved (Brett 1993). It is not clear to what extent international NGOs are ensuring an even distribution of their activities, or rather are displaying herding behavior. An obvious research question is thus whether the multiplication of the number of international NGOs hampers geographic coordination among them.

Heightened competition for funds among international NGOs is another factor that influences the behavior of international NGOs (Schulpen and Hoebink 2001). Back donors (official aid agencies) increasingly work through competitive tender systems, in which NGOs vie for contracts. Various scholars and international NGOs have claimed that this process of “marketization” erodes their capacity to take risks and engage in the poorest areas (e.g. ECDPM 2004a). However, claims that international NGOs made more audacious geographic choices in the past, and have abandoned those because of competitive pressures, have to yet to be verified and could be the subject of new research.
NGOs INEFFECTIVE IN REACHING THE POOR BECAUSE RECIPIENT COUNTRIES LACK ABSORPTION CAPACITY

Dirk-Jan Koch, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2009, Aid from International NGOs: blind spots on the aid allocation map, p. 20

Alternatively, a lackluster poverty focus might very well be related to a lack of absorption capacity in certain recipient countries. Most international NGOs rely on local partners for the actual execution of projects. Paradoxically, these organizations are often considered absent in the most needy environments, as Glasius points out: “the poor and the marginalized are often too atomized and overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness to have the confidence to set up vibrant associations. They also often lack the necessary skills and resources.” (Glasius et al. 2004, p. 5)
NGOs NOT FILLING GAPS

Dirk-Jan Koch, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2009, Aid from International NGOs: blind spots on the aid allocation map, p. 148

The empirical evidence in Chapters 2 and 3 indicated that international NGOs are not gearing their efforts toward the poorly governed countries. To the contrary there are signs that international NGOs are more active in more democratic countries. The assumed distribution of labor between international NGOs on one hand and official donors on the other hand, in which the former focus more on the poorly governed countries and the latter more on the well-governed countries, is not taking shape.



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