Mediating Dilemmas: Local NGOs and Rural Development in Neoliberal Mexico

Abstract

Analysis of the role of NGOs as mediators of change may yield important theoretical insights into the processes by which neoliberalizing projects become embedded in and consequently transformed by specific settings. In recent decades, NGOs have played an important role in mediating intertwined and often contradictory processes of political and economic liberalization in countries around the globe. However, changes to the political context in which NGOs work have altered the nature of the interventions these groups make. This article examines how members of a Mexican NGO community centered in the provincial city of Tulancingo, Hidalgo, rework cultural idioms of mediation to position themselves as legitimate intermediaries linking rural cooperatives, state officials, international donors, and global activist networks. Their strategies for confronting their own entrapment in processes of structural reform illuminate the constraints faced by Southern activists in negotiating possibilities for social change after the Washington Consensus. They also underline the importance of renewed attention to the role of intermediaries in enabling and enacting structural change. [Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); neoliberalism; intermediary; Mexico; development] And thus it is necessary to begin again, and again, in the middle of things. [Anna Tsing 2005: 2]Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have become key mediators of political, economic, and social change in the post-Washington Consensus era. While development experts have lauded NGOs as efficient conduits for aid, and pointed to the NGO "boom" as an indicator of democratizing civil societies, anthropologists have focused on the myriad ways NGOs help to remake forms of social organization and government. Analysis of the role of NGOs as mediators of change may yield important theoretical insights into the processes by which neoliberalizing projects become embedded in and consequently transformed by specific settings. Earlier anthropological theories of mediation assumed a nation-state frame, seeking to explain how local communities were incorporated into postcolonial nation-building projects via the work of cultural intermediaries. Although neoliberal ideologies have advocated the elimination of intermediaries in order to "free" individuals to interact in the marketplace, in practice neoliberalizing projects have relied upon the cultural knowledge and practices of a variety of actors to construct and consolidate new modes of regulation in specific settings (Harvey 2005;Brenner and Theodore 2002;Tsing 2005). In Latin America and elsewhere, NGOs have increasingly been called upon to fill in for the

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“…In contrast, Richard (2009) applies an anthropological cultural intermediary theory to explore the positive impact NGOs have had in incorporating local communities into a national-wide project in Mexico. One of the relatively few researchers who have focused on NGO's contribution to social change Richard (2009) argues that they took on intermediary roles in Mexico, 'building up structural linkages for redistribution of resources and power, as well as facilitating translation of cultural forms between distinct social groups' (Richard, 2009, p. 188).…”

“…One of the relatively few researchers who have focused on NGO's contribution to social change Richard (2009) argues that they took on intermediary roles in Mexico, 'building up structural linkages for redistribution of resources and power, as well as facilitating translation of cultural forms between distinct social groups' (Richard, 2009, p. 188). They have reworked cultural idioms of mediation to position themselves as 'legitimate intermediaries linking rural cooperatives, state officials, international donors and the global activist network' (Richard, 2009, p. 166).…”

“…As the result, NGOs in Mexico struggled to redefine their role as legitimate intermediaries so that they could negotiate with the state on behalf of particular groups, such as the poor farmers. The intermediary role of the NGOs in Mexico, therefore, has changed from the traditional 'buffer' role, to that of key mediators of the remaking of forms of social organization and government towards democratizing civil societies (Richard, 2009). NGOs play an intermediary role by building up structural linkages for the redistribution of resources and power, as well as facilitating the transmission of cultural forms between different social groups (Richard, 2009).…”