Michael Edwards

July 2000 £9.95, plus £1 p+p. Buy it on CentralBooks.co.uk

Is the rise of the NGO movement a powerful democratising force or a damaging threat to political representation? NGO campaigns - from debt relief to land mines - have enjoyed unprecedented success. But since the battle of Seattle, NGO-bashing has become a favourite pastime - as government officials, business and the media question the right of 'armchair radicals' to speak for the world's poor. Michael Edwards argues that we need to move beyond the blame-game over the failures of international governance and work our what the new rules of the road are. His innovative reform proposals set out a reform agenda for NGO accountability and show how international organisations can become more effective and inclusive by channelling NGO energies democratically and to the genuine benefit of those excluded from global progress. (You can also read the author's Financial Times piece about the report in The Foreign Policy Centre Writes .

This project was supported by NCVO

More about this pamphlet

NGO Rights and Responsibilites

by Michael Edwards

£9.95 (v + 46pp)

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Michael Edwards is Director of Governance at the Ford Foundation. He was previously Senior Civil Society Specialist at the World Bank. He writes in a personal capacity and his views should not be taken as those of the Ford Foundation.

"A smart and insightful account of the changing role of NGOs in global politics, offering not only a significant analysis of NGO activity today, but a series of excellent policy recommendations to encourage innovation and improvement in NGO participation in global governance".

David Held, Professor of Politics, Open University.

"This is a timely and thought-provoking pamphlet. Mike Edwards writes from considerable and varied experience and this shows in the balance, objectivity, great good sense and flashes of humour which he brings to bear on this important, and too often polarised, debate".

David Bryer, Director, Oxfam

Contents

1. Introduction: why we need a new deal in global governance.

2. The inexorable rise of NGOs.

3. Fall from grace: the problems of NGO involvement

4. Conclusion: a new deal for global governance.

"Compelling and succinct" Peter Hain, Minister of State, FCO
"Timely and thought-provoking … balanced, objective and written with great sense and flashes of humour" David Bryer, Director, Oxfam
"A smart and insightful account of the changing role of NGOs … a series of excellent policy recommendations" David Held, LSE