Beyond the Market, Beyond the State: The Rise of Non-Governmental Organizations

Abstract

Earlier chapters have concentrated on the roles and actions of organizations that are either part of the state apparatus or are market-based. This reflects the dominant orientations of development policy, with an emphasis on state-led development from the 1950s until the 1970s being followed by a ‘counter-revolution’ highlighting the private sector. But there are a vast number of organizations that are ‘neither prince [state] nor merchant [market]’ (Nerfin, 1986). These are associations formed within civil society bringing together individuals who share some common purpose. This ‘third sector’, as it is sometimes called, has a wide array of members — formally registered national non-governmental organizations, community groups, professional associations, residential committees, trade unions, kinship groups and cooperatives.