The Political Economy of NGOs: State Formation in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - Softcover

Fernando, Jude L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745321712 ISBN 13: 9780745321714

Publisher: Pluto Press, 2011

Synopsis

Jude L. Fernando explores the paradoxical relationship between NGOs and capitalism, showing that supposedly progressive organisations often promote essentially the same policies and ideas as existing governments.

The book examines how a diverse group of NGOs have shaped state formation in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It argues that, rather than influencing state formation for the better, NGOs have been integrated into the capitalist system and their language adopted to give traditional exploitative social relations a transformative appearance.

This enlightening study will give pause to those who see NGOs as drivers of true social change and will encourage students of development studies to make a deeper analysis of state formation.

About this title

About the Author:

Jude L. Fernando is Associate Professor of International Development, Clark University, Massachusetts and Visiting Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Yale University. He has edited many books including Microfinance: Perils and Prospects (2005), Rethinking Sustainable Development (2003) and Children's Rights (2001).

Review:

"At last, we have a theoretically-informed and historically grounded account of one of the defining features of the contemporary world -- the rise of non-governmental organisations. This book is a much-needed political economy of NGOs and development in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka that perfectly combines conceptual sophistication with careful empirical analysis, anchoring its understanding of NGOs firmly to the forces of capitalist development and the neo-liberal restructuring of the state." --David Lewis, Professor of Social Policy and Development, London School of Economics & Political Science "Jude Fernando's notable achievement here is to push us to be a lot more nuanced when we join in the intense debate about the value of non-governmental organizations. His grittily detailed and sophisticated comparison of myriad NGOs in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka makes us all smarter as we try to figure out under exactly what conditions NGO activities undermine or contribute to genuine democratization anywhere.  This is a fine and timely book." --Cynthia Enloe, author of Nimo's War, Emma's War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War "The best critique of NGOs as “Third Sector” institutions available. Jude Fernando exposes the ideology behind the supposedly beneficial role played by NGOs in development, using the cases of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Well written and trenchantly critical, this is a superb book." --Richard Peet, Professor of Geography, Clark University, author of Geography of Power: The Making of Global Economic Policy (2007)

About this edition

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0745321712
• ISBN 13: 9780745321714
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352