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NGOs, Civil Society, and the State in Bangladesh: The Politics of Representing the Poor

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  • Sarah C. White

Abstract

The established rhetoric of opposition between state and NGOs as development agents has shifted to one of complementarity and common interest. Along with this, the ‘comparative advantage’ claimed for NGOs has expanded from economic and welfare benefits to encompass also the political goods of civil society and popular participation. This paper reviews these developments in the context of Bangladesh. It argues that they need to be assessed critically in ways which are both theoretically informed and locally contextualized. While recognizing that there are, indeed, areas of common experience and interest between the state and NGOs in Bangladesh, it questions whether these necessarily coincide with the interests of those they all invoke: the poor.

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  • Sarah C. White, 1999. "NGOs, Civil Society, and the State in Bangladesh: The Politics of Representing the Poor," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(2), pages 307-326, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:30:y:1999:i:2:p:307-326
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-7660.00119
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    Cited by:

    1. Scanlan, Oliver & Siraj, Nasrin & Ritchil, Parag & Mankin, Shamsagor, 2024. "Is “pro-poor land administration” a realistic proposition? How a land survey in Bangladesh reproduced and reconfigured gendered and racialised poverty," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Blair, Harry, 2005. "Civil society and propoor initiatives in rural Bangladesh: finding a workable strategy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 921-936, June.
    3. Muhammad Mahboob ALI, & Md. Kamrul HOSSAIN, & ABM Alauddin CHOWDHURY, & Alexandru Mircea NEDELEA, 2017. "Sustainable Development Goals (Sdgs): 1 And 5 –Complementary Towards Fulfillment Of Goals Through Bnf Grant: An Analysis Among The Beneficiaries," EcoForum, "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Public Administration - Economy, Business Administration and Tourism Department., vol. 6(3), pages 1-7, august.
    4. Bruce Currey, 2002. "Strategic Directions for Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping in the 21st Century: Examples from Bangladesh," Working Papers in Food Policy and Nutrition 16, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
    5. Abu Sarker & Mohammad Rahman, 2015. "The Role of Social Accountability in Poverty Alleviation Programs in Developing Countries: An Analysis with Reference to Bangladesh," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 317-333, June.
    6. Saidur Rahman & Farhat Tasnim, 2023. "The role of NGOs in ensuring local governance in Bangladesh: from the perception of other actors of governance," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 1007-1034, September.
    7. Gauri, Varun & Galef, Julia, 2005. "NGOs in Bangladesh: Activities, resources, and governance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 2045-2065, December.
    8. Momin, Mahmood Ahmed, 2013. "Social and environmental NGOs’ perceptions of Corporate Social Disclosures: The Case of Bangladesh," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 150-161.
    9. Masud-All-Kamal, Md. & Nursey-Bray, Melissa, 2024. "Feminisation of adaptation interventions in Bangladesh: An intersectional analysis," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    10. M Twyeafur Rahman & Hafiz TA Khan, 2013. "The effectiveness of the microcredit programme in Bangladesh," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 28(1), pages 85-98, February.
    11. Claire Mercer, 2002. "NGOs, civil society and democratization: a critical review of the literature," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 2(1), pages 5-22, January.
    12. Saurabh Gupta, 2014. "From Demanding to Delivering Development," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 9(2), pages 121-145, August.
    13. Ali, Tariq Omar & Hassan, Mirza & Hossain, Naomi, 2021. "The moral and political economy of the pandemic in Bangladesh: Weak states and strong societies during Covid-19," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    14. Mushtaq H. Khan, 2014. "Aid and Governance in Vulnerable States," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 656(1), pages 59-78, November.
    15. A. H. M. Kamrul Ahsan & Peter Walters & Md. Adil Khan, 2021. "Service Delivery and Accountability of Urban Officials: Evidence from Urban-based Local Government in Bangladesh," South Asian Survey, , vol. 28(2), pages 222-242, September.
    16. Anh, Vu Ngoc, 2017. "Civil society activism in authoritarian contexts : (re)structuring state-society relations in Vietnam," OSF Preprints rh9cg, Center for Open Science.
    17. Hossain Ahmed Taufiq, 2021. "Towards an enabling environment for social accountability in Bangladesh," Papers 2107.13128, arXiv.org.
    18. Palash Kamruzzaman, 2013. "Civil society or ‘comprador class’, participation or parroting?," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 13(1), pages 31-49, January.
    19. Ahmed, Zahir Uddin & Hopper, Trevor & Wickramasinghe, Danture, 2023. "From Minnow to Mighty: A hegemonic analysis of social accountability in BRAC - the world’s largest development NGO," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    20. Jones, Gareth A. & Dallimore, Anthea, 2009. "Wither participatory banking?: experiences with village banks in South Africa," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 23354, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    21. Anna Fruttero & Varun Gauri, 2003. "Location decisions and nongovernmental organization motivation : evidence from rural Bangladesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3176, The World Bank.
    22. Banks, Nicola & Hulme, David & Edwards, Michael, 2015. "NGOs, States, and Donors Revisited: Still Too Close for Comfort?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 707-718.
    23. M Rezaul Islam, 2017. "Non-governmental organisation global community empowerment projects in Bangladesh: How do these fit the local context?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(7), pages 763-777, November.
    24. Steinar Askvik & Ishtiaq Jamil, 2013. "The Institutional Trust Paradox in Bangladesh," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 459-476, December.
    25. Malin Arvidson, 2008. "Contradictions and Confusions in Development Work," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 3(1), pages 109-134, June.

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