Introduction

The non-governmental organisation (NGO), which traces the beginning of its modern mission to the need to rebuild a Europe ravaged by the Second World War, represents an organisational form that is rapidly evolving in response to complex global, national and local forces, and that at the same time is redefining the role of the state and of civil society in the provision of social services. Despite the relatively recent global and large-scale proliferation of the NGO phenomenon, they have existed for centuries. Their founding philosophy is perhaps best embodied in the religious requirement that the pious believer practise good works and minister to the poor. In more recent manifestations their role has often been to reaffirm the domain of civil society in opposition to repressive states. Today, neither the simple philosophy of good works nor the role of opposition adequately summarises the purpose or function of the large-scale, professionalised and internationally funded organisations that sponsor more local activities. Nor do they adequately characterise the function of local NGOs that find their original role as adversaries of repressive governments changing more towards that of allies of national, regional and municipal administrations in providing social services to indigent and vulnerable populations.

During the last few decades, a growing body of theoretical and empirical work underscores the growing importance of the non-governmental sector in areas such as human rights, sustainable development, the environment, education and health. Much of this work is based on case studies and deals with the nature of the relationship between what have been characterised as ‘northern’ NGOs – the large multinational organisations such as Oxfam International, CARE, Human Rights Watch and hundreds of others that have their headquarters in Europe or the US and that funnel money to ‘southern’ NGOs that are in direct contact with the target populations – and these southern NGOs (Fowler, 1988; Clark, 1991; Pearce, 1993; Renshaw, 1994; Benett and Gibbs, 1996). Much work also deals with the role of governmental entities such as the International Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations in defining the mission of local NGOs.

One recent research initiative attempts to catalogue and categorise these organisations for the purpose of international comparison (Salamon and Anheier, 1994, 1998, 1999). Despite this body of research, though, the NGO phenomenon remains poorly understood, especially in terms of the ways in which individual organisations have evolved in response to global forces.