Can service providing NGOs build democracy? Five contingent features

Abstract

This article studies the role of service providing NGOs in the Middle East in promoting democracy. Challenging the assumption that service providing NGOs are apolitical, the authors argue that service providing NGOs play important roles in promoting democracy. They do so by serving as public arenas, or spaces in which members and beneficiaries practice democratic habits such as discussion and debate, collective problem solving, free expression, rights claiming, and the like-all of which contribute to the cultivation of a participatory form of democracy. Drawing upon existing literature, interviews, and participant observation of NGOs in Egypt, Lebanon, and Palestine, the authors argue that five features shape the role of service providing NGOs in promoting democracy. These include: (1) organizational readiness, or the organization's embeddedness in its beneficiary community and its organizational capacity; (2) organizational governance, or organization's commitment to participatory representation and transparency; (3) the nature of service an organization provides; (4) an NGOs' collaboration with other NGOs and the government; and (5) donor risk tolerance. The article's analysis contributes to our understanding of the varied, and often overlooked, roles of service providing NGOs, advancing the literature on NGO-state relations, NGO-donor relations, and democracy promotion.

Unpacking ‘public silence’: Civil society activism under authoritarian rule in Ethiopia

“…While liberal civil society theories have dominated the research field since the 1980s, they have been criticised for failing to capture civil society—state relationships in non‐democratic settings (Herrold & AbouAssi, 2023; Mercer, 2002). Research revealed that liberal democratic readings that present CSOs as beacons of democracy and suggest that CSOs check and balance state power and oppose non‐democratic forms of governance fail to capture empirical realities.…”

“…To explain variations in co‐optation and control of CSOs in authoritarian settings, research has explored variations between different policy sectors and found that repression of CSOs is particularly high where organisations work on politically contentious topics and advocacy rather than service provision (Hildebrandt, 2013; Yerkes, 2012). While those insights are interesting, they fail to account for the fact that service provision and policy advocacy often overlap (Fisher Melton, 2023; Herrold & AbouAssi, 2023; Moldavanova et al., 2023; Moldogaziev & Witko, 2023). Moreover, they are ill suited to explain why CSOs working on the same topics sometimes differ regarding their ability and willingness to drive an independent agenda from the state (Pellerin, 2019b).…”

“…Additionally, research has demonstrated that the division of CSOs into advocacy organisations trying to promote democracy and service providing NGOs inevitably stabilising non‐democratic regimes is problematic. Instead, many service providing CSOs also conduct policy advocacy and contribute to democratising public spaces in non‐democratic settings (Herrold & AbouAssi, 2023; Mati, 2020). Finally, research found that everyday resistance under non‐democratic rule often takes the form of covert, rather than overt opposition (Pellerin, 2019a).…”

Exploring service‐providing non‐governmental organization perceptions of shifting civic space in Ghana: Impacts of government and international actors

“…Specifically, space may close for certain types of NGOs, such as advocacy NGOs, but expand for other types of NGOs, such as service‐providing NGOs. This is because service‐providing NGOs can be viewed as apolitical and non‐threatening to the state, and as part of the liberal agenda that espouses these NGOs as vehicles of democratization and development (Herrold & AbouAssi, 2023; Moldavanova et al., 2023).…”

Power dynamics and resource dependence: NGO‐government collaboration in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

“…Another example is the private provision of education, which has increased over the years (Rose, 2006). Some studies have described this relationship as both complementary and supplementary, resulting in a complex dynamic that warrants further investigation (Herrold & AbouAssi, 2023;Najam, 2000;Young, 2000). Increasing government spending on public services could potentially boost the activities of NGOs, assuming that a portion of this funding is directed toward their operations.…”