NGOs, Political Protest, and Civil Society

This book shows how non-governmental organizations in the developing world change how people participate in politics.

Carew Boulding (Author)

9781107659384, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 October 2016

232 pages, 27 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.36 kg

'From Tocqueville to Huntington to Putnam, civil society's role in supporting democracy has been debated. In an impressive debut, Carew Boulding marshals a dazzling array of data ranging from the sub-national level in Bolivia to cross-national surveys to show that NGOs facilitate both voting and protest because, fundamentally, they facilitate citizen collective action to hold leaders accountable. Her book transforms the terrain for future scholarship on civil society.' Irfan Nooruddin, Georgetown University, Washington DC

This book argues that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have an important effect on political participation in the developing world. Contrary to popular belief, they promote moderate political participation through formal mechanisms such as voting only in democracies where institutions are working well. This is a radical departure from the bulk of the literature on civil society that sees NGOs and other associations as playing a role in strengthening democracy wherever they operate. Instead, Carew Boulding shows that where democratic institutions are weak, NGOs encourage much more contentious political participation, including demonstrations, riots, and protests. Except in extreme cases of poorly functioning democratic institutions, however, the political protest that results from NGO activity is not generally anti-system or incompatible with democracy - again, as long as democracy is functioning above a minimal level.

1. Introduction
2. NGOs, mobilization, participation, and democracy
3. Local NGO activity and its consequences in Bolivian municipalities
4. NGOs, associations, protest, and voting in Latin America
5. Associational activity and participation in developing democracies
6. Civil society, protest, and attitudes toward democracy
7. Conclusions: articulating democratic discontent.

Subject Areas: Sociology [JHB]