Synopses & Reviews
After World War II dozens of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) emerged on the global scene, committed to improving the lives of the world's most vulnerable people. Some focused on protecting human rights; some were dedicated to development, aimed at satisfying basic economic needs. Both approaches had distinctive methods, missions, and emphases. In the 1980s and 90s, however, the dividing line began to blur. In the first book to track the growing intersection and even overlap of human rights and development NGOs, Paul Nelson and Ellen Dorsey introduce a concept they call new rights advocacy. New rights advocacy has at its core three main trends: the embrace of human rights-based approaches by influential development NGOs, the adoption of active economic and social rights agendas by major international human rights NGOs, and the surge of work on economic and social policy through a human rights lens by specialized human rights NGOs and social movement campaigns. Nelson and Dorsey draw on rich case studies of internationally well-known individual NGOs such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, CARE, ActionAid, and Save the Children, and employ perspectives from the fields of human rights, international relations, the sociology of social movements and of complex organizations, and development theory, in order to better understand the changes occurring within NGOs. In questioning current trends using new theoretical frameworks, this book breaks new ground in the evolution of human rights-development interaction. The way in which NGOs are reinventing themselves has great potential for success--or possibly failure--and profound implications for a world in which theenormous gap between the wealthiest and poorest poses a persistent challenge to both development and human rights.
Synopsis
Out of the ashes of World War II emerged dozens of non-governmental organizations, aka NGOs, committed to improving the lives of the world's most vulnerable people. Some of these NGOs were dedicated to protecting human rights; some were dedicated to development, that is, initiatives aimed at satisfying basic economic needs. These two approaches progressed on separate tracks and reflected different methods, cultures, and objectives. This distinction was best symbolized by two vastly different logos: Amnesty International's barbed wire and candle v. the CARE package. While AI sought to train investigators and activists to pressure governments to free victims of human rights abuses, CARE solicited financial support for community development projects and emergency relief. Two worlds; two ways of saving the world. That all began to change in the 1980s and 90s, leading to what Nelson and Dorsey call new rights advocacy. Human rights NGOs began to appreciate the need to accommodate economic and social and cultural rights; development NGOs, meanwhile, began to realize that human rights concerns were integral to economic development projects. In short, these historically separate tracks began to drift toward, and learn from, one another. For instance, Oxfam International, long known for its development and emergency work, has now adopted a rights-based approach; Human Rights Watch has begun to focus on discrimination in economic and social policies; and several newer NGOs, such as EarthRights International, are hybrid organizations integrating both human rights and development concerns. Nelson and Dorsey trace the history and implications of this convergence, though they conclude that it is still too early to judge the long-term effectiveness of the new rights advocacy.