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Promoting and Preventing Political Change through Internationally Funded NGO Activity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

David S. Brown ,
J. Christopher Brown  and
Scott W. Desposato
David S. Brown
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Boulder
J. Christopher Brown
Affiliation:
University of Kansas, Lawrence
Scott W. Desposato
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
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Abstract

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A growing percentage of international aid is distributed through local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Scholarship is divided on how that aid affects domestic politics. One side argues that aid to NGOs reinforces the status quo. As NGOs become dependent on external funding, they lose sight of their original goals. The other side contends that channeling funds to NGOs generates associational activity; producing political change by empowering previously marginalized groups. We test these competing hypotheses in Rondonia, Brazil, measuring the impact of internationally funded NGO activity on voting behavior. We find that the impact of aid varies with the institutional environment. At the state level, more votes for the conservative governor came from municipalities whose NGOs received project money. In contrast, the same municipalities registered a significant shift to leftist candidates at the presidential level. The findings have broad implications for the impact international aid has on political competition, political change, and democracy.

Resumo

Resumo

Actualmente, una creciente porción de ayuda financiera internacional se distribuye a través de organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONGs). La literatura académica se encuentra dividida en el análisis de los efectos que este tipo de ayuda financiera tiene en la política doméstica. Por un lado, se argumenta que la ayuda a las ONGs refuerza el status quo. Mientras que las ONGs devienen dependientes del financiamento externo, pierden de vista sus objetivos originales. Por otro lado, se argumenta que la distribución de financiamiento internacional a través de las ONGs genera actividades asociativas, las cuales a su vez fortalecen grupos previamente marginados produciendo cambio político. En este trabajo, evaluamos ambas hipótesis en Rodonia, Brasil, midiendo el impacto que las actividades de ONGs financiadas internacionalmente han tenido en el comportamiento electoral municipal. Encontramos que el impacto varía de acuerdo al contexto institucional. Los municipios con ONGs financiadas internacionalmente registraron una mayor cantidad de votos para los candidatos a gobernador conservadores a nivel estadual. Sin embargo, los mismos municipios registraron una mayor cantidad de votos para los candidatos de izquierda a nivel presidencial. En términos generales, nuestra investigación ilumina el impacto que la ayuda financiera internacional a ONGs tiene en cuanto a competencia electoral, cambio político y democracia.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , February 2007 , pp. 126 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by the University of Texas Press

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