Government—Civil Society Relations Post-9/11

Abstract

Since 9/11 government and donor approaches to civil society have become more circumspect. As discussed in Chapter 2, by the turn of the millennium governments, international institutions and development agencies were beginning to adopt a more critical and strategic stance towards civil society, and especially towards advocacy organisations and funded NGOs. Thismore cautious engagement arose from concerns over the accountability, legitimacy, probity of civil society organisations as well as the bureaucratic costs of working with a compendium of small groups. Concurrently, there were concerns over aid effectiveness and donors were devising new ways of channelling aid to achieve the greater expectations of what development should deliver. This involved directing greater support through aid-recipient governments with a resulting de-emphasis on civil society support. Hence, government and donor strategies towards civil society were undergoing considerable changes prior to the emergence of security concerns and suspicions of civil society in the context of the War on Terror.

We can address directly three of the most dangerous sources of terrorist finance — the abuse of charities, the abuse of money service businesses and the abuse of financial transactions. We know that many charities and donors have been and are being exploited by terrorists.¹

Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, October 2006