The burgeoning sector of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Latin America—funded by Northern donors—is both catalyzing and responding to change, as states, market, and civil society realign in an age of information technology and globalization. The political economic perspective of this book clarifies the emerging role of Latin America's NGOs in the global community. After introducing the expanding role of NGOs in the international community at large, the book explores the history of NGOs in Latin America. It then uses case studies to examine the economics and politics of NGOs vis-a-vis information, partnerships, opportunism, entrepreneurship, and compromise with donors.
As producers of international public goods, NGOs are characterized as building blocks of the global community and as contributors to economic production, employment, institutional innovation, and technology transfer. This book concludes that although NGOs cannot substitute for government, they are aptly suited for complex partnerships with both domestic and international public and private sectors and are more appropriate vehicles for donor projects than Latin America's public sectors.