Renaming the NGO: A Case in Rural China and Challenges of the Global Context

• In Event: 479 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 14. Global Institutions

Abstract

Designating a wide variety of groups as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) presents three conceptual and methodological problems: 1) there are several competing arguments about the role of the nation-state in the process of globalization, but the term fixes such organizations to only one of them, 2) whereas being “non-governmental” implies a separation from the conventional power structure, NGOs may actually be part of the power structure in some contexts, while in others, being part of the government’s administrative structure does not actually mean being involved with politics or power plays, and 3) the term contributes to maintaining inaccurate descriptions and unrealistic expectations for researchers and donors, who continue to imagine that sectors are as unitary and discrete. These problems stem from entrenchment in particular historical understandings—of the nation-state, authority, and personhood—which need to change in order for social scientists to analyze these global and transnational organizations. This paper explores these issues using illustrations from fieldwork observations of an international organization and its program helping the poor in rural China. Based on this analysis, it proposes a new way of looking at non-governmental organizations that focuses on what organizations “do” rather than on what they “are.”

Author

• Becky Yang Hsu, Georgetown University