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20 century 'zuŋ u 'not for profit' empires
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"Veni, Vidi, Vici ",Steti - ego adduxit amicis meis
Consequently, while NGOs can still successfully pursue such goals from a rights-based
perspective, it is also clear that rights do not provide the underlying ideological or
intellectual unity to which many aspire. Rights enable development activists to articulate
a language for change, but it is a change all too often dictated by far more powerful
institutions and intergovernmental organizations. These bodies have very different
agendas from NGOs in their planned goals of development, marked most clearly in their
prioritization of economic rights over the social rights espoused by NGOs.
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To put it bluntly, development NGOs have made themselves central players in the game
of rights, but this is a sport--as weaker NGOs have long realized--that is played out in
arenas built by more powerful backers and according to rules designed by agents other
than the NGOs themselves “
"International Aid and Development NGOs in Britain and Human Rights since 1945," 188
Humanity Journal. ( June 2014)
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In her 1997 Foreign Affairs article, Jessica Mathews wrote: "For all their strengths, NGOs are
special interests. The best of them ... often suffer from tunnel vision, judging every public act
by how it affects their particular interest". NGOs are unencumbered by policy trade-offs.
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NGOs have been accused of preserving imperialism (sometimes operating in a racialized
manner in Third World countries), with a function similar to that of the clergy during the
colonial era.
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NGOs have been accused of weakening people by allowing their funders to prioritize
stability over social justice
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Eric Werker and Faisal Ahmed made three critiques of NGOs in developing nations. Too
many NGOs in a nation (particularly one ruled by a warlord) reduces an NGO's influence,
since it can easily be replaced by another NGO. Resource allocation and outsourcing to
local organizations in international-development projects incurs expenses for an NGO,
lessening the resources and money available to the intended beneficiaries. NGO
missions tend to be paternalistic, as well as expensive.
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NGOs have been challenged as not representing the needs of the developing world,
diminishing the "Southern voice" and preserving the North–South divide
"Non-Governmental Organization" 189