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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism > Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
"In the Interest of Others" develops a new theory of organizational leadership and governance to explain why some organizations expand their scope of action in ways that do not benefit their members directly. John Ahlquist and Margaret Levi document eighty years of such activism by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in the United States and the Waterside Workers Federation in Australia. They systematically compare the ILWU and WWF to the Teamsters and the International Longshoremen's Association, two American transport industry labor unions that actively discouraged the pursuit of political causes unrelated to their own economic interests. Drawing on a wealth of original data, Ahlquist and Levi show how activist organizations can profoundly transform the views of members about their political efficacy and the collective actions they are willing to contemplate. They find that leaders who ask for support of projects without obvious material benefits must first demonstrate their ability to deliver the goods and services members expect. These leaders must also build governance institutions that coordinate expectations about their objectives and the behavior of members. "In the Interest of Others" reveals how activist labor unions expand the community of fate and provoke preferences that transcend the private interests of individual members. Ahlquist and Levi then extend this logic to other membership organizations, including religious groups, political parties, and the state itself.
Peacebuilding is an interactive process that involves collaboration between peacebuilders and the victorious elites of a postwar society. While one of the most prominent assumptions of the peacebuilding literature asserts that the interests of domestic elites and peacebuilders coincide, Costly Democracy contends that they rarely align. It reveals that, while domestic elites in postwar societies may desire the resources that peacebuilders can bring, they are often less eager to adopt democracy, believing that democratic reforms may endanger their substantive interests. The book offers comparative analyses of recent cases of peacebuilding to deepen understanding of postwar democratization and better explain why peacebuilding missions often bring peace—but seldom democracy—to war-torn countries.
Non-profit organizations (NPOs) across the world are facing criticism alongside approbation. In order for NPOs to effectively support their causes, they require public trust. The editors of this book have persuaded PR experts from the UK and around the world, from a variety of PR specialisms operating across different organizational forms, to share their knowledge and experience. These contributions are scaffolded with authoritative academic and practical advice, as well as solutions. The book starts with foundations that underpin communications for causes. These include arguments that support the importance of non-profits in civil society; lessons in corporate governance; and a new approach to issues management. PR planning subjects tailored, or specific, to the sector include: strategic global communications planning, agile digital communications; branding internal communications and the securing of meaningful outcomes. Corporate partnerships are examined with a new 'Fit to Partner Test' and consideration of the mandated corporate social responsibility (CSR) in India, corporate volunteering in Brazil, and CSR in South Africa. Relations between governments and non-profits are also considered, both generally and with a particular focus on China. Communicating Causes looks at effective strategy and practice of PR in the modern non-profit. Including forewords by both John Grounds and Jon Snow, the expert perspectives offered in this book provide valuable support to current and future communicators.
Humanitarians are required to be impartial, independent, professionally competent and focused only on preventing and alleviating human suffering. It can be hard living up to these principles when others do not share them, while persuading political and military authorities and non-state actors to let an agency assist on the ground requires savvy ethical skills. Getting first to a conflict or natural catastrophe is only the beginning, as aid workers are usually and immediately presented with practical and moral questions about what to do next. For example, when does working closely with a warring party or an immoral regime move from practical cooperation to complicity in human rights violations? Should one operate in camps for displaced people and refugees if they are effectively places of internment? Do humanitarian agencies inadvertently encourage ethnic cleansing by always being ready to 'mop-up' the consequences of scorched earth warfare? This book has been written to help humanitarians assess and respond to these and other ethical dilemmas.
As government officials and political activists are becoming increasingly aware, international nonprofit agencies have an important political dimension: although not self-serving, these private voluntary organizations (PVOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) seek social changes of which many of their financial contributors are unaware. As PVOs and NGOs receive increasing subsidies from their home governments in the United States, Canada, and Europe, they are moving away from short-term relief commitments in developing countries and toward longer-term goals in health, education, training, and small-scale production. Showing that European and Canadian NGOs focus more on political change as part of new development efforts than do their U.S. counterparts, Brian Smith presents the first major comparative study of the political aspect of PVOs and NGOs. Smith emphasizes the paradoxes in the private-aid system, both in the societies that send aid and in those that receive it. Pointing out that international nonprofit agencies are in some instances openly critical of nation-state interests, he asks how these agencies can function in a foreign-aid network intended as a support for those same interests. He concludes that compromises throughout the private-aid networkand some secrecymake it possible for institutions with different agendas to work together. In the future, however, serious conflicts may develop with donors and nation states. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Most available literature on foreign aid lacks precise terminology, reliable data, and a theory that; permits profiting from experience. This book tries to meet some of these difficulties by analyzing the foreign aid record of the US in a specific region. It points the way toward improving allocation of aid in an area when the total to be allocated has been set. Originally published in 1960. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
This book provides the first book-length, English-language account of the political ethics of large-scale, Western-based humanitarian INGOs, such as Oxfam, CARE, and Doctors Without Borders. These INGOs are often either celebrated as heroes or do-going machines or maligned as incompetents 'on the road to hell'. In contrast, this book suggests the picture is more complicated. Drawing on political theory, philosophy, and ethics, along with original fieldwork, this book shows that while humanitarian INGOs are often perceived as non-governmental and apolitical, they are in fact sometimes somewhat governmental, highly political, and often 'second-best' actors. As a result, they face four central ethical predicaments: the problem of spattered hands, the quandary of the second-best, the cost-effectiveness conundrum, and the moral motivation trade-off. This book considers what it would look like for INGOs to navigate these predicaments in ways that are as consistent as possible with democratic, egalitarian, humanitarian and justice-based norms. It argues that humanitarian INGOs must regularly make deep moral compromises. In choosing which compromises to make, they should focus primarily on their overall consequences, as opposed to their intentions or the intrinsic value of their activities. But they should interpret consequences expansively, and not limit themselves to those that are amenable to precise measurements of cost-effectiveness. The book concludes by explaining the implications of its 'map' of humanitarian INGO political ethics for individual donors to INGOs, and for how we all should conceive of INGOs' role in addressing pressing global problems.
The interaction between corporations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has become an important topic in the debate about corporate social responsibility (CSR). Yet, unlike the vast majority of academic work on this topic, this book explicitly focuses on clarifying the role of NGOs, not of corporations, in this context. Based on the notion of NGOs as political actors it argues that NGOs suffer from a multiple legitimacy deficit: they are representatives of civil society without being elected; the legitimacy of the claims they raise is often controversial; and there are often doubts regarding the legitimacy of the behaviour they exhibit in putting forward their claims. Set against an extended sphere of political action in the postnational constellation this book argues that the political model of deliberative democracy provides a meaningful conceptualization of NGOs as legitimate partners of corporations and it develops a conceptual framework that specifically allows distinguishing legitimate partner NGOs from two related actor types with whom they share certain characteristics but who differ with respect to their legitimacy. These related actor types are interest groups on the one hand and activists on the other hand. In conclusion it argues that a focus on the behaviour of NGOs is most meaningful for distinguishing them from interest groups and activists.
So long as large segments of humanity are suffering chronic poverty and are dying from treatable diseases, organized giving can save or enhance millions of lives. With the law providing little guidance, ethics has a crucial role to play in ensuring that the philanthropic practices of individuals, foundations, NGOs, governments, and international agencies are morally sound and effective. In Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy, an accomplished trio of editors bring together an international group of distinguished philosophers, social scientists, lawyers and practitioners to identify and address the most urgent moral questions arising today in the practice of philanthropy. The topics discussed include the psychology of giving, the reasons for and against a duty to give, the accountability of NGOs and foundations, the questionable marketing practices of some NGOs, the moral priorities that should inform NGO decisions about how to target and design their projects, the good and bad effects of aid, and the charitable tax deduction along with the water's edge policy now limiting its reach. This ground-breaking volume can help bring our practice of charity closer to meeting the vital needs of the millions worldwide who depend on voluntary contributions for their very lives.
Using the Moyen Bani Programme as an example, External Assistance or External Interference gives an analysis of a grassroots conflict which, not foreseen at project design, lasted six years in Mali. This book provides the historical, economic, and political backgrounds that influenced the design and the conflict resolution. Concepts of perception, emotion, and identity explain the frames of the actors in the conflict. Notions including static and dynamic frames are used to explain their positions at different times during the conflict resolution. It explores the need of protagonists in rural conflicts to increase the political and economic resources they possess to achieve their goals. This need brought the intervention into the conflict of an international NGO. The book examines the "whys" and "wherefores" of the intervention by the NGO. The effects of the conflict on the project results are examined. The book contributes to the development of paradigms for conflict resolution as well as for project planning and analysis.
How can the poorer countries of the world be helped to help themselves through freer, fairer trade? In this challenging and controversial book Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and his co-author Andrew Charlton address one of the key issues facing world leaders today. They put forward a radical and realistic new model for managing trading relationships between the richest and the poorest countries. Their approach is designed to open up markets in the interests of all and not just the most powerful economies, to ensure that trade promotes development, and to minimise the costs of adjustments. Beginning with a brief history of the World Trade Organisation and its agreements, the authors explore the issues and events which led to the failure of Cancun and the obstacles that face the successful completion of the Doha Round of negotiations. Finally they spell out the reforms and principles upon which a successful agreement must be based. Accessibly written and packed full of empirical evidence and analysis, this book is a must read for anyone interested in world trade and development.
The Syrian war has been an example of the abuse and insufficient delivery of humanitarian assistance. According to international practice, humanitarian aid should be channelled through a state government that bears a particular responsibility for its population. Yet in Syria, the bulk of relief went through Damascus while the regime caused the vast majority of civilian deaths. Should the UN have severed its cooperation with the government and neglected its humanitarian duty to help all people in need? Decision-makers face these tough policy dilemmas, and often the "neutrality trap" snaps shut. This book discusses the political and moral considerations of how to respond to a brutal and complex crisis while adhering to international law and practice. The author, a scholar and senior diplomat involved in the UN peace talks in Geneva, draws from first-hand diplomatic, practitioner and UN sources. He sheds light on the UN's credibility crisis and the wider implications for the development of international humanitarian and human rights law. This includes covering the key questions asked by Western diplomats, NGOs and international organizations, such as: Why did the UN not confront the Syrian government more boldly? Was it not only legally correct but also morally justifiable to deliver humanitarian aid to regime areas where rockets were launched and warplanes started? Why was it so difficult to render cross-border aid possible where it was badly needed? The meticulous account of current international practice is both insightful and disturbing. It tackles the painful lessons learnt and provides recommendations for future challenges where politics fails and humanitarians fill the moral void.
This is a no-holds-barred, comprehensive, real-world guide to building political power and successfully lobbying for nonprofits in the 21st century, written by an insider who has been in the trenches as both a lobbyist and a government official.
Market-based development strategies designed to help the world's poor receive significant support from advocates, academics, governments, and the media, yet frequently the perceived success of these programs rests on carefully selected examples and one-sided, enthusiastic accounts. In practice, these approaches are often poorly defined and executed, with little balanced, comparative analysis of their true strengths and weaknesses. This book is the first to assess emerging market-based social change approaches comparatively, focusing specifically on social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, fair trade, and private sustainable development. Steven G. Anderson begins by identifying the problems these programs address and then describes their core, shared principles. He follows with a general framework for defining and evaluating these and other development approaches. Separate chapters provide background on the historical development and application of each approach, as well as interpretations of the processes for implementation and the underlying behavioral assumptions related to successful outcomes. A final chapter compares each approach across a set of important program development dimensions and analyzes the utility of market-based approaches as part of a general consideration of social development strategies for the developing world.
*NGOs are under fire for being "unaccountable" to anyone; this is the first book to tackle fully the politics, pitfalls, and benefits of NGO accountability* Offers principles and innovative solutions for assessing and developing viable accountability*Input and cases studies from NGOs such as Action Aid, and from every part of the globe including China, Indonesia, Latin America, and AfricaAs the fastest growing segment of civil society, as well as featuring prominently in the global political arena, NGOs are under fire for being "unaccountable." But who do NGOs actually represent? Who should they be accountable to and how? This book provides the first comprehensive examination of the issues and politics of NGO accountability and governance across all sectors internationally. It offers an assessment of the key technical tools available including legal accountability, certification, and donor-based accountability regimes, and questions whether these are appropriate and viable options or attempts to "rollback" NGOs to a more one-dimensional function as organizers of national and global charity. In the spirit of moving towards greater, real accountability the book looks in detail at innovations that have developed from within NGOs and offers new approaches and flexible frameworks that enable accountability to become a reality for all parties worldwide.
The 1994 agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO)
regulates over 95% of world trade amongst 148 member countries. The
November 2001 Declaration of the Fourth Ministerial Conference of
the WTO in Doha, Quatar, has launched the Doha Development Round of
multilateral trade negotiations in the WTo on 21 topics aimed at
far-reaching reforms of the world trading system. On August 1st
2004, the WTO General Council reached agreement on a detailed Doha
Work program with the aim of concluding negotiations in 2006.
The voluntary sector is made up primarily of not-for-profit and non-governmental organizations that engage with social issues. Voices from the Voluntary Sector contains reasoned reflections by practitioners on some of the significant challenges faced by today's not-for-profit organizations in Canada. Broad in scope, these essays present a rich, multi-dimensional set of vignettes that as a whole express the vitality and humanity of the voluntary sector in Canada. The contributors discuss organizational and managerial challenges, social entrepreneurship, and how to foster effective global movements. The essays include a reflection on the ways that young people can find the courage to become leaders, an exploration of the absence of First Nations peoples within voluntary sector organizations, and a consideration how parental incarceration affects the life prospects of children. Voices from the Voluntary Sector is a valuable resource that addresses a wide range of concerns related to the responsiveness, character, and leadership of third sector organizations.
This book investigates the contributions of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to policymaking at the WTO, challenging the idea that NGOs can be narrowly understood as potential 'democratic antidotes' to the imperfections of Inter-Governmental Organizations (IGOs). The book highlights the significance of interactions between states, NGOs and IGOs, in order to understand their contributions to international trade governance. Based on case studies in the areas of labour standards, intellectual property and investment rules, the author finds that NGO activities serve an agenda setting function: they publicize neglected trade-related issues, persuade others to support their positions, enhance the resources of less developed member states and highlight normative rationales for policy change. In evaluating NGO campaign tactics and emphasizing relations between NGOs and WTO member states, this book advances understandings of the parameters of NGO agency in global governance. The Making of International Trade Policy will appeal to scholars and students with an interest in NGOs, research institutes and thinktanks, as well as policymakers, national trade negotiators, government departments and the trade policy community. NGO personnel active on WTO and trade policy issues - both researchers and activists - will also find this book thought-provoking.
In Making the World Safe, historian Julia Irwin offers an insightful account of the American Red Cross, from its founding in 1881 by Clara Barton to its rise as the government's official voluntary aid agency. Equally important, Irwin shows that the story of the Red Cross is simultaneously a story of how Americans first began to see foreign aid as a key element in their relations with the world. As the American Century dawned, more and more Americans saw the need to engage in world affairs and to make the world a safer place-not by military action but through humanitarian aid. It was a time perfectly suited for the rise of the ARC. Irwin shows how the early and vigorous support of William H. Taft-who was honorary president of the ARC even as he served as President of the United States-gave the Red Cross invaluable connections with the federal government, eventually making it the official agency to administer aid both at home and abroad. Irwin describes how, during World War I, the ARC grew at an explosive rate and extended its relief work for European civilians into a humanitarian undertaking of massive proportions, an effort that was also a major propaganda coup. Irwin also shows how in the interwar years, the ARC's mission meshed well with presidential diplomatic styles, and how, with the coming of World War II, the ARC once again grew exponentially, becoming a powerful part of government efforts to bring aid to war-torn parts of the world. The belief in the value of foreign aid remains a central pillar of U.S. foreign relations. Making the World Safe reveals how this belief took hold in America and the role of the American Red Cross in promoting it.
Since the end of the Cold War, a virtual army of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from the United States, Britain, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe have flocked to Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia. These NGOs are working on such diverse tasks as helping to establish competitive political parties, elections, and independent media, as well as trying to reduce ethnic conflict. This important book is among the few efforts to assess the impact of these international efforts to build democratic institutions. The case studies presented here provide a portrait of the mechanisms by which ideas commonly associated with democratic states have evolved in formerly communist states, revealing conditions that help as well as hurt the process.
Addresses the issues facing NGOs as their role and remits expand. NGOs have grown in scale and remit and have been given a role by states and official aid organizations that fundamentally challenge many of the assumptions that accompanied their creation. There is a general, albeit vague, feelingthat NGOs are no longer what they used to be. Yet aside from the obvious differences in scale of activity and resources, there is little understanding of the processes that have led NGOs to be the types of organization that theyare today. This book challenges the static picture of the NGO industry, to inform the debate on the relief-to-development continuum, and to provide an historical account of key issues facing NGOs today. Each chapter, a case study based on extensive fieldwork, seeks to identify and analyse the roots of problems, past and present, which have led to the current dilemma facing charitable organizations. North America: Kumarian Press
Civil society organizations, nonprofits, national and international nongovernmental organizations, and a variety of formal and informal associations have coalesced into a world political force. Though the components of this so-called third sector vary by country, their cumulative effects play an ever-greater role in global affairs. Looking at relief and welfare organizations, innovation organizations, social networks, and many other kinds of groups, Meghan Elizabeth Kallman and Terry Nichols Clark explore the functions, impacts, and composition of the nonprofit sector in six key countries. Chinese organizations, for example, follow the predominantly Asian model of government funding that links their mission to national political goals. Western groups, by contrast, often explicitly challenge government objectives, and even gain relevance and cache by doing so. In addition, Kallman and Clark examine groups in real-world contexts, providing a wealth of political-historical background, in-depth consideration of interactions with state institutions, region-by-region comparisons, and suggestions for how groups can borrow policy options across systems. Insightful and forward-seeing, The Third Sector provides a rare international view of organizations and agendas driving change in today's international affairs. |
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