The MOST Phase II website is available at: www.unesco.org/shs/most.
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are in the MOST Phase I website (1994-2003). The MOST Phase II website is available at: www.unesco.org/shs/most. |
Conference organized jointly by the MOST Programme
(UNESCO),
the CEDEJ, the IRD, the SPSS of Al Ahram
29-31 March 2000, in Cairo, Egypt
also available in French
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NGOs are today not regarded any more as palliative or alternative solutions in the development of countries, but rather as independent actors in the development and regulation of society, as well as in the public and private sectors. The initiators of "good governance" have helped much in this raising of the status of NGOs; the reforms which they recommend aim at a new articulation between the State, society and the market. The "normative" governance thus preaches a general reconstruction of the internal political orders on the basis of new partnerships between the states, the private companies and the "civil society" (among which the NGOs or what the Anglo-Saxons call the 3rd sector). This internal political recombining is made legitimate in particular by the socio-economic changes related to globalisation; according to some, this phenomenon would also make obsolete the political model of the Nation-State. Parallel to this "prescriptive" and "normative" dimension, the concept of governance reveals also an analytical dimension, and offers a new manner of approaching politics, far away from the traditional perceptions strongly centred on the State, according to a "mythical" or "ideological" reading. The State is in fact only one of a set of various institutions, groups, interacting individuals, conflicts and negotiations. In the same way, the approach in terms of governance expresses the need for exceeding the institutional approach of public action to go towards an analysis of the multiple actors of politics, who are not all official political actors. This new step is starting to try and prove itself reliable in the analysis of politics in Western countries and could be beneficial for the analysis of the policy in the Arab countries especially as the contemporary Arab political systems pose problems at the framework of the traditional political analysis: this is due in particular to their difficult democratisation, the "Islamic question" and due to the multiple political crises which this area has seen. The approach in terms of governance can make it possible to refine the efunderstanding of what is called the "neo-patrimonialism", the clientelism, etc. by integrating in the analysis of politics, the study of other non-official actors who nevertheless contribute to the political (de)regulation: prominent citizens; groups with religious, family or regional referent; economic groups (e.g. businessmen) as well as associations and NGOs. The principal objective of this conference, organised within the framework of the MOST ("Management of the Social Transformations") Programme, was to assess the political dimensions in the broad sense of the term and the "governability" of the missions and real functions of NGOs in Arab countries. That which is particular to the Arab world in relation to this question is the fact that these countries knew an old associative experiment which continued until today for some of them. Their principal fields of concern are the socio-charitable activities, which are often combined with religious and Community referents. In the socio-economic context of these last decades, characterised by the liberalism and the drastic reductions in national expenditures, these associations experienced a renewal of activity, and their social and political functions were reinforced without counting the fact that some of them are places of conflict between various political tendencies. With this traditional and renewed associative reality there are additionally today new associative vocations which do not seek to assist and offer services, but rather to mobilise the citizens on varied subjects, and to occupy new social and political functions as partners of the public authorities in the choices and the control of development. This is seen as an impetus for change in social sectors. In the same way, some of them have concerns which directly touch political questions like human rights or democracy. This general renewal of the associative scene in Arab countries and the world of the NGOs, confronts itself with the public authorities pulled between their "will" stated to support the expressions of "civil society" and their traditions to be a little accustomed to delegation, dialogue, or decentralisation. Thus the attitude of the public authorities towards this new social and political facts wavers between the refusal for change, the instrumentalisation and sometimes the "supervised liberty". The question of the associations and NGOs funding also complicates the
reality of Arab associatives of today. In the model of "good governance",
the question of the financing is solved in an abstract way through the
setting-up of partnership relations between NGOs and the private sector.
But then how does one reconcile the logic of profit in the business world
with the logic of the "not profit " which "must" characterise the 3rd sector?
In the same way, the business world in the Arab countries continues to
be in a close relationship with the administrative machinery and politics.
This relationship, variable according to different countries, makes an
"autonomous" financing of NGOs in the Arab world problematic. Part of Arab
NGOs, in particular those whose ends are not of a socio-charitable nature,
turn to foreign and international donors and put themselves in contact
with international NGOs. This issue also poses problems with the Arab political
powers, who feel they are less able to monitor "their" associations and
NGOs. As a result they diversify their administrative techniques of mediation
between external funds and local NGOs. The Arab States have been thus called
into question from international level (the effect of globalisation), and
from below (the effect of the "liberalisation of the civil societies").
The principal objective of this conference was to examine whether one can regard the NGOs of the Arab world as one of the main actors of the governance of these countries and of their national and local development. This topic is of a vast nature. In the interest of the meeting, the problems were targeted around two principal objectives which are at the "infra" and "supra" levels in Arab political affairs : 1. the first objective was to evaluate the political dimension in the broad sense of the term and the "governability" of the missions and real functions of NGOs within the internal political structures in various countries which have been studied. What are the characteristics of relationships between associations, NGOs and the public authorities at the national and local level: partnership, instrumentalisation, opposition and competition? Is the stated extension of the missions of NGOs in almost all the fields really accompanied by an increase in the decision-making of the NGOs and their autonomy vis-à-vis the state? Or are they always regarded as palliatives to the insufficiencies of the functions and missions of the public authorities? How does one characterise the relationship between NGOs and society: relations of mediation, representation, mobilisation, awareness-raising, client relationships, bureaucratic, etc.? Do the systems of action of NGOs differ deeply from the systems of action prevailing between the public authorities and society ? Do their internal operations show new, positive characteristics in terms of democratisation, transparency, etc ? Do Arab NGOs help to stress problems and questions that the traditional methods of action of the public authorities cannot detect ? In asking the question of political participation of NGO's, one is also brought to wonder about the capacity of NGOs in being the new "catalysts" of contemporary social movements. This seems less characterised by a will of total challenging the established order, rather than by collective actions which conflict around projects centred on sectoral and socially partial and fragmented changes. Is the form of an NGO express more these transformations and the new pattern of social movements, comparing to the older structures like the trade unions and political parties? From there, one asks whether the major areas of concern are not less of the mobilising capacity of NGOs, than that of the sense which they give to their actions. More generally, can one consider that the increase in the functions of the NGOS in the Arab countries is deeply modifying the internal political systems in terms of decentralisation, democratisation, of the fight against bureaucracy, and in terms of a greater sensibility towards the expressions of society. Do the NGOs play a role as alternative political actors, substituting the traditional modes of political expression? Up to what point do the areas of NGOs constitute being new local political actors and if so, does this evolution support the emergence of a decentralised design of politics? So what are their new spheres of activity? 2. the second objective of the conference was to analyse the relationships between the donors, the international NGOs and local NGOs. Generally these relations are analysed in terms of inequality, of hegemony and of dependence between "strong" and "weak". The financial inequality would inevitably involve alien conception of local development, and NGOs of the Arab countries would be finally only the executor of development programs which is conceived elsewhere. This vision does not show the reality that relations between the three parts are complex, varied and diversified, as the relation is not only financial. It also implies the installation of networks between the three groups. Consequently, the elaboration of the projects of development is the fruit of the multiple interactions between actors having experiences diversified on an international scale. The vertical relations are thus accompanied by horizontal relations, which make their results complex. An agenda (strategies and priorities) designed by local NGOs can be in fact the result of a mixing between various conceptions of the development related to the networks in which these NGOs are implied. Such a report does not deny the fact that there exists also a certain insufficiency in the negotiations on the choices of the projects of development and more generally in the decision-making processes. Two factors explain this insufficiency in the investment of the area of negotiation. On the one hand the local NGOs, who find themselves in competition to collect funds, tend to be aligned on projects which they think will attract donors. On the other hand, certain donors and international NGOs tend to ignore and badly evaluate the various contexts in which local NGOs are driven. In addition to the deepening of the analysis of the relations between international NGOs, agencies and local NGOs, there was also a need to question their internal political effects. Is it not the case that the settings of networks of local NGOs and international NGOs contribute to legitimise or, on the contrary, to cause political discredits, as much in relation to the public authorities as to society? The problems of these relations have a particular tonality and are doubly "charged" in the Arab world: with regard to Islamists and/or those who stand to benefit, and because of the nationalist ideologies, a certain "mistrust" with respect to the "Western" agencies is verifiable. With regard to certain international NGOs and donors, one also notes a suspicion on their point towards certain local NGOs, in particular those with Islamic religious referent. It is interesting to see the effects of this reciprocal mistrust in the internal and external political arena and also on the relations between the three parts: donors, international NGOs and local NGOs. So that the comparisons have a useful meaning, it was interesting to focus the attention on NGOs in four sectors: health and education, environment (urban and rural), human rights and the democracy in general. Health and education are the sectors seen as being the most useful by NGOs of the Arab countries as they meet immediate needs for society. These spheres of activity are common to many Arab NGOs regardless of size, "philosophy" or ideology. In the same way, these sectors raise technical questions like the methods of reform of health policy, prevention, the reform of the school system, the question of the private schools, etc. As for the environment, it is a sector truly encouraged by an international "topic". The interest of this choice is precisely to show how the designs of the defence and the environmental protection are adapted to the needs of urban and rural society. Finally, the last sector suggested poses immediate and significant political
problems between local NGOs and the public authorities. With regards to
precisely what is called the subsector "defence of the democracy", it seems
fundamental to perceive it in a broad way by also including NGOs which
seek to improve the work of the administrative and political institutions
by fighting against corruption, the promotion of transparency of the administrative
commissions, etc.
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