Nongovernments: NGOs and the Political Development of the Third World (Kumarian Press Books on International Development) [Paperback]

Julie Fisher (Author)

Book Description

Series: Kumarian Press Books on International Development | Publication Date: September 1997

* A complete overview of the composition and types of today’s NGOs

This definitive work on nongovernmental organizations is worthwhile reading for anyone who is interested in NGOs or the political development of the Third World. Nongovernments details the influence these organizations have had on world political systems and the hope they bring to the possibility for sustainable development.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Particularly useful to those interested in capacity building and who need a comprehensive view of the ways that NGOs work." -- David E. Apter, Yale University

For anyone interested in working with NGOs in developing countries. -- Sarah Stokes, “Washington Report on the Hemisphere,” 9/10/02

Readable and therefore a good choice as a required text for teachers of a wide range of courses. -- Voluntas

This is an outstanding book. It is essential reading for scholars and practitioners interested in international development and/or social organization. -- Voluntas, Fall 2001

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: Kumarian Press (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565490746
• ISBN-13: 978-1565490741
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,517,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag, January 17, 2003

By 

Don D'Cruz (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Nongovernments: NGOs and the Political Development of the Third World (Kumarian Press Books on International Development) (Paperback)

Fisher's book does have some interesting information in it but overall the book lacks intellectual rigour and a more hard-nosed and detached approached to her topic.

Still, the book is probably worth a read.

14 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE THIRD WORLD CIVIL SOCIETY, January 3, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Rangeley, Maine USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nongovernments: NGOs and the Political Development of the Third World (Kumarian Press Books on International Development) (Paperback)

is the topic of Julie Fisher's second book Non Governments: NGOs and the political Development of the Third World (Kumarian Press, 14 Oakwood Ave., West Hartford CT 06119-2127 USA; 1998) Fisher does not write in an anatomical metaphor; nor does she use the jargon of complexity theory with its "self-organizing on the edge of chaos." But it is all there. A living body of networking organizations has emerged to fill the niche produced by dysfunctional post-colonial governments. A plethora of unique interdependent organs assuming specialized functions which serve the whole have almost magically become the body that promises better life for the people in developing countries, and the whole Earth. Grassroots Organizations (GROs) formed by the people in remote villages, have risen by the tens of thousand to solve local problems with local skills and local resources. They network horizontally with one another to provide mutual aid. Grassroots Support Organizations (GRSOs) have emerged independently in the cities, capitols and universities to answer their own need for social usefulness by providing information, material and services, to the remote and the disadvantaged GROs. Overseas International NonGovernmental Organizations (INGOs) have recognized the failure of Governments and U.N. run "Development Decades" to provide "direct aid" to the people in their villages. This whole global Civil Society is a new phenomena. It was not planned by the bureaucrats, not even by the participants themselves. It emerged and self-organized as a working whole within the last two decades. It is now composed of hundreds of thousands of new organizations each playing a unique role in the new body politic. Fisher writes with more humility than she deserves. The book is filled with statistics and case studies of this emerging political and social phenomenon in the Third World. Perhaps, like David Korten, who cut his teeth by leading the Third Word movement for self-help development, or like Francis Moore-Lappé, who spent her early years dissecting the myths of Third World hunger, Fisher will next turn her microscope and scalpel to dissecting the emerging Civil Society in the industrial world. For it is the Industrial Culture's transition to Gaian Cultures which is required if human civilization is to continue, and it is our Civil Society which must lead, and is leading, the way.