Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
takes important service delivery functions in place of the state. An
alternative and more radical perspective comes from a Marxist or
Gramscian tradition, focusing on the notion that civil society represents
a site of resistance and counter hegemony in the capitalist economic
system.
In the 1990s, development agencies championed civil society as a way
of facilitating participatory development, but over time it has become
increasingly open to criticism. Civil society is extremely heterogeneous
and encompasses a diverse range of interest groups that compete for
power over limited resources. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) may
be further differentiated along social axes based on class, religion, gen-
der, ethnicity or disability, among others. Widely criticized for failing to
reach poor and marginal groups, it is important to note that civil society
is not inherently radical as it includes the interest groups of wealthy
elites as well as those from poorer communities, a situation that creates
an arena of inherent conflict and inclusion/exclusion. However, more
radical interpretations of civil society have focused upon the informal
collective action between individuals or groups that develops into social
movements. New social movements, as they were labelled in the 1990s,
referred to the growth of grassroots community and self-help groups
that sought to challenge or resist powerful interest groups or regula-
tions. According to McEwan (2005), social movements can provide
'action spaces' for marginal communities to create alternative ideolo-
gies and plans for social change, although their informality can often
limit their effectiveness. Despite the growth of grassroots collective
action in human rights and worker solidarity, it is Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) that have been identified as the main agents of
civil society and they have become an important stage for addressing
global development agendas.
'Non-Governmental Organization' is a broad term applied to a range
of non-profit, non-state organizations that range from large Northern
NGOs, like Oxfam or Save the Children, to local co-operatives and
self-help organizations in the global South (Desai, 2008). Originally
based on providing direct intervention to poor communities in the global
South, NGOs were regarded as magic bullets for development in the
1990s. By the millennium, their failure to engender widespread progress
in the global South prompted Northern NGOs to address the fact that
international political processes and power relations - circumstances
that led them to expand their roles into advocacy and activism - impeded
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