Civil society by design : donors, NGOs, and the intermestic development circle in Bangladesh / Kendall W. Stiles.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stiles, Kendall W.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic assistance--Bangladesh.

Economic assistance.

Economic assistance, Domestic--Bangladesh.

Economic assistance, Domestic.

Civil society--Bangladesh.

Civil society.

Non-governmental organizations--Bangladesh.

Non-governmental organizations.

Bangladesh--Economic policy.

Bangladesh.

Bangladesh--Economic conditions.

Bangladesh--Social conditions.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (183 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Drawing on years of research and direct experience in Bangladesh, Stiles pulls together theoretical strands from economics, sociology, and anthropology to help explain an emerging social structure in the Third World. These structures, which he calls intermestic development circles, bring together international donor agencies with various domestic community and private organizations. In Bangladesh not-for-profit agencies are dramatically transforming their operation and organizational cultures, while in turn Western NGOs are themselves changing in subtle ways. Scholars of development will find Stiles's intriguing account of the reciprocating effects of extensive interaction, cooperation, and tensions between international donors and domestic recipients informative and provocative. Moving through three discernable phases, each one explainable by resort to different theories, these development circles grow from mere trading arrangements to a coherent social structure, separate from the rest of civil society in Bangladesh. While in the process of the not-for-profits receiving assistance become wealthier and more effective, they lose much of their local identity and become part of a transnational network. At the same time, donors must recast themselves in order to work effectively with these agencies, which often creates tension between local and home offices. The book closes with some recommendations that might attenuate some of the more troubling effects of this transformation.

Contents:

Cover

CIVIL SOCIETY BY DESIGN

Contents

Acknowledgments

1 Intermestic Development Circles and Institutional Convergence

INTERMESTIC DEVELOPMENT CIRCLES: AN EMERGING STRUCTURE

THE EMERGENCE OF INTERMESTIC DEVELOPMENT CIRCLES: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Initiation

Donor Interests and Perspectives

NGO Priorities and Perspectives

The Opportunity Presents Itself

The Debt Crisis

The Third Wave

The Cold War Ends

Institutionalization

Theories of Inter-Organizational Behavior

Contact Points

New Principal-Agent Contracts

NGO Professionalization

Maturation

Contrary Tendencies

Implications

OUTLINE OF THE PROJECT

Bangladesh as a Most Likely Case

Processes and Dynamics

2 Donors and NGOs in Bangladesh

BANGLADESHI SOCIAL STRUCTURES

BANGLADESHI NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

Origins

Grameen and Microcredit

The NGO Community Today

Major NGOs

Intermediary NGOs

Mid-sized and Small NGOs

Community Organizations

THE FOREIGN DONOR COMMUNITY IN BANGLADESH

Bilateral Official Donors

Multilateral Official Donors

INGOs

3 Dynamics of Intermestic Development Circles

INITIATION

Donor Community Interests

The Washington Consensus

Doing More with Less

The Pluralist Moment

NGO Community Interests

Doing More with More

The Utility of a Patron

INSTITUTIONALIZATION

Network Characteristics

Principal-Agent Controls

Project Funding

Program Grants

Consortium

NGO Obstructionism

MATURATION

Self-Selection

Disaffection

Identity Convergence

Revolving Door

CASE STUDIES

The Flood Action Plan Case

The GSS Case

CONTRARY TENDENCIES

CONCLUSIONS

4 The Marginalized: Civil Society, Mass Movements, and the State

CIVIL SOCIETY

Journalist Organizations

Labor.

Private Sector

Academic and Theater Groups

ISLAMIC GROUPS

MASS MOVEMENTS

THE STATE

State-Society Relations

State-Donor Relations

CONCLUSION: MARGINALIZED BANGLADESHI ACTORS

EPILOGUE: DONOR MARGINALIZATION?

5 Conclusions and Implications for Theory and Policy

SUMMARY OF THE STUDY

Theoretical Propositions

Findings

Conclusions

Generalizability?

THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS

Intermestic Development Circles and Democratization

Intermestic Development Circles and Global Civil Society

Globalization, Dependency, and Intermestic Development Circles

POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Intermestic Development Circles and Authenticity

Rehabilitating the State?

Acronyms

Bibliography

Index

About the Author.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [155]-171) and index.

ISBN:

9798400626777

9786610422821

9781280422829

1280422823

9780313012297

0313012296

OCLC:

614673878