Against NGOs: A Critical Perspective on Civil Society, Management and Development

Description

What would development look like if its practitioners and scholars were 'against NGOs,' challenging common sense about them? This book presents a critical perspective on NGOs, describing how they emerged as key agents of development over time. Through an interpretative history based on Gramscian concepts it shows how civil society organizations were gradually enlisted in development as non-state technocratic actors. The book argues that management studies and development studies emerged as commonsensical explanations for capitalist crises. Each offered complementary solutions to balance the needs of capital and society, in particular historical circumstances. These solutions also situated civil society as agents of development and vectors of management. Against NGOs fills a gap within the literature of management and development studies through its original discussion of their historical interconnections and shared themes. The book raises provocative questions on what forms of knowledge-politics can respond productively to the crises of our contemporary moment.

Nidhi Srinivas studies global intersections of management studies, philosophy, and justice in terms of critique, efficacy, and empowerment. He has researched a variety of civil society organizations and their management settings, including in India, Brazil, Mexico, and China. He is Associate Professor of Management at The New School, New York.

'Against NGOs is a fascinating book that brings together two often separated fields: management studies and development studies. Using the Gramscian concept of common sense, the book presents us with a perspective of the pivotal and shifting role NGOs play as agents of development and disseminators of management doctrines, especially in moments of capitalist crisis. It avoids reducing criticism to NGOs only as instruments of exploitation and partners in an order imposed by the Washington Consensus but seeks bases for reconstructing a plural sense for civil society to realize a genuinely emancipatory project. It is essential reading for our times, both for scholars in management studies and development studies and activists involved in the various struggles for a better future.' Mario Aquino Alves, Professor, FGV Sao Paulo School of Business Administration 'In this urgent and important book, Nidhi Srinivas contends that NGOs, hitherto seen as the saviors of civil society, are now in danger of being hopelessly coopted by the hegemony of capitalism. Fortunately, this hegemony remains incomplete, and Srinivas uncovers ways in which emancipatory possibilities can be nurtured in the service of 'The Wretched of the World,' to recall Franz Fanon's eloquent description. Indeed, Srinivas is, in a sense, one of Fanon's heirs, advocating for an organic bond between theorizing and praxis. I strongly recommend this extraordinary book for researchers in management and organization studies who believe that the best way to live is to make life better for the most disadvantaged among us.' Raza Mir, Professor, William Paterson University 'What is the social function of the non-governmental sector within the development, management, and civil society nexus? Nidhi Srinivas examines the frontiers of capital operating in and through NGOs to deliver a major book on the critical limits and possibilities of civil society as a space of emancipation.' Adam Morton, Professor, The University of Sydney 'Many contemporary accounts of NGOs have critiqued them as being either 'malign actors' or 'futile players'. However, both of these characterizations miss the context within which these organizations presently operate. In this excellent book, Srinivas takes a much more nuanced approach in examining the contexts that NGOs work in by employing the key concepts and practices of Development, Management, and Civil Society. This book takes you on a critical journey through the different historical stages of global capitalism by utilizing an analysis of colonialism, modernism and financial capitalism and their relationship to International Development. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the theories, practices and actions of NGOs more specifically and International Development more broadly.' Helen Yanacopulos, Professor, The University of British Columbia