State-Funded Activism: Lessons from Civil Society Organizations in Ireland

Abstract

Civil society organizations (CSOs) in Ireland receive significant state funding and institutional support according to the logic that they are important contributors to democratic governance, with the effect that the CSO sector has expanded and become more embedded in formal decision-making processes over the past several decades. At the same time, dependency on government funding exposes CSOs to three important challenges: to stay true to activist mandates in the face of pressure from state funders to focus on service provision; to maintain accountability to constituents while also satisfying the vertically oriented accountability requirements of the state; and to nurture collaboration among CSOs in a context of competition for state funding. University-based activists, who are also reliant on (increasingly scarce) government funding, face similar challenges, and therefore should pay more attention to debates regarding state funding in the CSO sphere. By working together to overcome common challenges associated with state funding, activists in both spheres can more effectively contribute to progressive social change.

NGO-state relations in the monitoring of illegal forest logging and wildlife trafficking in Central Africa

“…While the potential for cooperation is strongly linked to the level of democratic opening within the country (Atack;; cooperative relationships are shaped by the history of interactions, the nature of NGOs in terms of capacity and resources and the extent to which the interactions are formally or informally organized (Mcloughlin, 2011). While supporting the need for cooperative relationships, other authors warn of potential dangers of becoming too close to state such as lose of independence and inability to lead advocacy activities (Visser, 2015;Kim, 2009).…”