The political economy of NGOs
Subtitle: state formation in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
By: Jude L. Fernando
Publisher: Pluto Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 338
ISBN-13: 9780745321714; 9780745321721
Subjects: Non-governmental organizations; Capitalism
Description: From the publisher. Fernando explores the paradoxical relationship between NGOs and capitalism, showing that supposedly progressive organizations 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 300-326) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Theorizing social change, beyond the impasse; title: 1. The emergence of the unified nation-state: precolonial NGOs in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka; title: 2. Welfare state to national security state: post-Independence NGO-state relations in Sri Lanka, 1948-2010; title: 3. Secularism, religion, and parallel states: post-Independence NGO-state relations in Bangladesh, 1971-2010; title: 4. The NGO industrial complex: modernizing postmodernity.