Imperialism, the State, and Ngos: Middle Eastern Contexts and Contestations (original) (raw)

2010, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East

ince the Gulf War in 1991 and more so after September 11 and the war on terror, the phenomenon of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in the Middle East in general, and the Arab world and Palestine more specifically, has acquired a specific predominance and weight requiring critical investigation. The rate of increase in NGOs in the past few years-from an estimated 175,000 in 1995 to about 225,000 in 2003-has raised a number of issues and concerns among various scholars. 1 This is particularly so with regard to women's NGOs. Some of the concerns raised relate to the rationale behind the mushrooming of this phenomenon: is it a conscious product of local and national need or the result of external, more specifically capitalist imperialist, interests and pressures in the region-hence serving foreign agendas? At the macro, international level of analysis, questions are raised regarding the "constructive" or rather "restrictive" role NGOs play in the project of nation and state building. Whereas for some, NGOs are seen as a socially divisive force leading to the segmentation of the national movement, the obliteration of the class struggle, and the fragmentation of the social fabric, others blame the phenomenon of NGOs for its role in transforming the women's movement from grassroots-based organization into professional bureaucratic structures incapable of driving political and social change. 2 Yet others, while critical of certain aspects of the phenomenon, tend to welcome NGOs, considering them an important factor in the development of civil society and a tool for promoting citizenship, democracy, and human and civil rights. 3 At the local/micro level, some concerns are raised regarding the function of NGOs as project-driven organizations with limited short-term goals. Other concerns raised at this level relate to the social-cultural domain. Here NGOs are seen as a tool of "cultural co-optation" by the West and a source of competition and social division vying for limited sources of funding. 4 1. United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM),