Intended Audience
Scholarly & Professional
Reviews
'The Taming of Democracy Assistance is an impressive 'whodunit' that is an original contribution to the study of democracy assistance and an important statement on the lifeworlds of global NGOs. When rounding up those who might have tamed democracy assistance, the usual suspects are donors, who have the financial power to tell NGOs what to do and not do, and authoritarian governments, who have the power to keep democracy-promoting NGOs in their place and the motivation to do so. Although their fingerprints are at the scene, according to Bush, these NGOs are responsible for their own domestication. Worried about their own survival, they played the game in ways that kept their programs open and the money flowing in. And the very professionalization of the sector introduced a more technocratic, means-oriented expert class that lost the big picture.' Michael Barnett, George Washington University, Washington DC
TitleLeading
The
Dewey Edition
23
Illustrated
Yes
Dewey Decimal
327.1/1
Table Of Content
Part I. Introduction and Argument: 1. Introduction; 2. The argument: structure, agency, and democracy promotion; 3. Tame democracy assistance: what it is and why it matters; Part II. Testing the Argument: 4. Delegation and the allocation of democracy assistance; 5. Changes in American grant-making; 6. Creating the democracy establishment; 7. Jordan: aid in the shadow of geopolitics; 8. Tunisia: reform after revolution; Part III. Conclusions: 9. Should democracy promoters be set free?; Part IV. Appendices and References: A. Descriptions of categories of democracy assistance; B. List of interviewee affiliations; C. Major organizations in the democracy establishment; D. Data appendix.
Synopsis
The Taming of Democracy Assistance seeks to explain why few government programs that aid democracy abroad today seek to foster regime change. Rather than providing aid to dissidents, Sarah Bush argues that programs have been 'tamed', focusing on issues such as women's rights and local governance., Few government programs that aid democracy abroad today seek to foster regime change. Technical programs that do not confront dictators are more common than the aid to dissidents and political parties that once dominated the field. What explains this 'taming' of democracy assistance? This book offers the first analysis of that puzzle. In contrast to previous research on democracy aid, it focuses on the survival instincts of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that design and implement democracy assistance. To survive, Sarah Bush argues that NGOs seek out tamer types of aid, especially as they become more professional. Diverse evidence - including three decades of new project-level data, case studies of democracy assistance in Jordan and Tunisia, and primary documents gathered from NGO archives - supports the argument. This book provides new understanding of foreign influence and moral actors in world politics, with policy implications for democracy in the Middle East.
LC Classification Number
JC423
