1. NGOs and Organizational Change: The Relevance of Foucault and Bourdieu.
- Author
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Ebrahim, Alnoor
- Subjects
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NONGOVERNMENTAL organizations , *SOCIAL theory , *INTERORGANIZATIONAL relations - Abstract
This paper seeks to enhance theory on inter-organizational relationships in international development by drawing from the perspectives of two French social theorists ? Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. In particular, I focus on interactions between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their international funders. Drawing from Foucault, Bourdieu, and my own field research, I show that the activities of NGOs are highly circumscribed by internationally accepted norms and social structures, and yet are also capable of causing fundamental change in the thought and practice of development. The purpose of this paper is to set down a theoretical foundation for this argument. From Foucault, I borrow the concepts of discourse and power/knowledge, and apply them to common understandings of the terms development. This part of the paper is not theoretically new as there exist a number of Foucauldian studies on development. I draw from and synthesize a few such studies, paying particular attention to the role of power relations between NGOs and funders in influencing NGO planning procedures and action. The work of Foucault is particularly useful in uncovering core assumptions about development processes and NGO-funder relations, and in demonstrating how these assumptions constrain what NGOs do. Bourdieu’s work, like that of Foucault, is also helpful in understanding how NGO-funder relations are created and constrained. But Bourdieu also theorizes about how it is possible for practices and relationships to change over time, albeit slowly and at the margins. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and capital I develop a model of organizational relationships in which different kinds of resources are exchanged between NGOs and funders. I argue that while these patterns of exchange constrain planning practices in specific ways, they simultaneously open up new avenues for change. In brief, this paper seeks to relate theoretical insights from Foucault and Bourdieu to the study of NGO-funder relations in international development. Sample References: Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Translated by Richard Nice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bourdieu, Pierre. 1979. Algeria 1960. Translated by Richard Nice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ferguson, James. 1990. The Anti-Politics Machine: Development, Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Foucault, Michel. 1980. Two Lectures: 7 January 1976, 14 January 1976. In Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977, ed. C. Gordon, 78-108. New York: Pantheon. Foucault, Michel. 1984a. Madness and Civilization. In The Foucault Reader, ed. P. Rabinow, 123-167. New York: Pantheon. Gardner, Katy, and David Lewis. 1996. Anthropology, Development and the Post-Modern Challenge. London: Pluto Press. Harker, Richard, Cheleen Mahar, and Chris Wilkes, eds. 1990. An Introduction to the Work of Pierre Bourdieu: The Practice of Theory. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Healey, Patsy. 1997. Collaborative Planning: Shaping Places in Fragmented Societies. Vancouver, Canada: University of British Columbia Press. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004