Civil society, democratization, and foreign aid: Civic engagement and public policy in South Africa and Uganda

Democratization

Volumn 14, Issue 4, 2007, Pages 643-668

  Robinson, Mark ^a   Friedman, Steven ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Africa; Civil society; Democratization; Foreign aid; Public policy

Indexed keywords

CIVIL SOCIETY; COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION; DEMOCRATIZATION; INTERNATIONAL AID; LEGISLATION; LOCAL PARTICIPATION;

AFRICA; EAST AFRICA; SOUTH AFRICA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; UGANDA;

EID: 34547601193     PISSN: 13510347     EISSN: 1743890X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13510340701398329     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. A. Hadenius and F. Uggla, 'Making Civil Society Work, Promoting Democratic Development: What Can States and Donors Do?' World Development, Vol. 24, No. 10 (1996), pp. 1621-39.
2. In addition, related research in Ghana throws light on the questions discussed here, but without detailed case studies of policy engagement. For details see E. Gyimah-Boadi and M. Oquaye, 'Civil Society and the Domestic Policy Environment in Ghana', Research Report 7 (Accra: Centre for Democracy and Development, 2000).
3. See also E. Gyimah-Boadi, M. Oquaye, and K. Drah, 'Civil Society Organizations and Ghanaian Democratization', Research Report 6 (Accra: Centre for Democracy and Development, 2000)
4. and J. Hearn, 'Foreign Political Aid, Democratization and Civil Society in Ghana in the 1990s', Working Paper 5 (Accra: Centre for Democracy and Development, 2000).
5. Excluded from the case studies are informal, localized organizations and ethnic associations on the grounds that they are rarely targeted for democracy assistance by foreign aid donors or engage in policy advocacy, with the exception of the two farmers' organizations in South Africa.
6. J. Oloka-Onyango, 'Civil Society, Democratisation and Foreign Donors in Contemporary Uganda: A Conceptual and Literature Review', Working Paper 56 (Kampala: Centre for Basic Research, 2000).
7. J.-J. Barya, 'The State of Civil Society in Uganda: An Analysis of the Legal and Political-economic Aspects', Working Paper 58 (Kampala: Centre for Basic Research, 2000).
8. J. Oloka-Onyango and J.-J. Barya, 'Civil Society and the Political Economy of Foreign Aid in Uganda', Democratization, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1998), pp. 113-38.
9. G. Hansen, Constituencies for Reform: Strategic Approaches for Donor-Funded Civil Advocacy Programs (Washington DC: Center for Development Information and Evaluation, United States Agency for International Development, 1996).
10. A. Van Rooy and M. Robinson, 'Out of the Ivory Tower: Civil Society and the Aid System', in A. Van Rooy, Civil Society and the Aid Industry (London: Earthscan, 1998), pp. 31-70.
11. NEDLAC is a tripartite forum in which government, business and the trade unions bargain over economic policy. It also has a development chamber in which a 'community' constituency finds representation.
12. C. Kihato and T. Rapoo, 'An Independent Voice? A Survey of Civil Society Organisations in South Africa, Their Funding and their Influence over the Policy Process', Research Report 67 (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 1999).
13. S. Mackay and M. Mathoho, 'Worker Power: The Congress of South African Trade Unions and its Impact on Governance and Democracy', Research Report 79 (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 2001).
14. J. Maree, 'The COSATU Participatory Democratic Tradition and South Africa's New Parliament: Are They Reconcilable?' African Affairs, No. 97 (1998), pp. 21-51.
15. Mackay and Mathoho (note 11), pp. 23-6.
16. J. Cherry, 'Workers and Policy-making', in S. Buhlungu (ed.), Trade Unions and Democracy: COSATU and Workers' Political Attitudes (Johannesburg: HRSC Press, 2006), pp. 143-66.
17. Ibid.
18. C. Kabemba and S. Friedman, 'Partnership and its Problems: The Institute for Democracy in South Africa, Democratisation Strategy and Foreign Aid', Research Report 81 (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 2001).
19. S. Friedman, 'The Treatment Action Campaign and the Shift in State Policy on HIV/AIDS', unpublished paper prepared for a Ford Foundation project on 'Citizen Engagement and National Policy Change' (2006).
20. Kabemba and Friedman (note 16).
21. P. Heller and L. Ntlokonkulu, 'A Civil Movement or a Movement of Civics? The South African National Civic Organisation in the Post-Apartheid Period', Research Report 84 (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 2001).
22. Ibid.
23. D. Gershater, 'Sisterhood of a Sort: The Women's National Coalition and the Role of Gender Identity in South African Civil Society', Research Report 82 (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 2001).
24. A.-M. Goetz and S. Hassim (eds), No Shortcuts to Power: African Women in Politics and Policy-making (London: Zed Books, 2003).
25. Gershater (note 21).
26. D. Hlophe, M. Mathoho, and M. Reitzes, 'The Business of Blackness: The Foundation of African Business and Consumer Services, Democracy and Donor Funding', Research Report 83 (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 2001).
27. M. Mathoho and T. Schmitz, 'Poverty, Civil Society and Patronage: A Study of Two Farmers' Associations in North West Province', Research Report 80 (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 2001).
28. Barya (note 5).
29. J.-J. Barya, 'Foreign Political Aid, Democratisation, and Civil Society in Uganda: A Study of NOTU and UMA, 1990-2001', mimeo (Kampala: Centre for Basic Research, 2001).
30. N. Bazaara, 'Civil Society and Democratisation Processes in Uganda: A Case Study of DENIVA and UNSA', mimeo (Kampala: Centre for Basic Research, 2003).
31. J. Oloka-Onyango, 'Cajoling the State: Analysing the Influence of NAWOU and HURINET on the Formulation of Government Policy', Working Paper 83 (Kampala: Centre for Basic Research, 2003).
32. Goetz and Hassim (note 22).
33. Oloka-Onyango (note 29).
34. S. Lister and W. Nyamugasira, 'Design Contradictions in the "New Architecture of Aid"? Reflections from Uganda on the Role of Civil Society Organisations', Development Policy Review, Vol. 21, No. 1 (2003), pp. 93-106.
35. Bazaara (note 28).
36. Hadenius and Uggla (note 1).
37. Kihato and Rapoo (note 10).
38. M. Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996).
39. N. Kasfir (ed.), Civil Society and Democracy in Africa (London: Frank Cass, 1998).
40. E. Hutchful, 'The Civil Society Debate in Africa', International Journal, Vol. 51 (1995/6), pp. 54-77.
41. J. Hearn, 'Foreign Aid, Democratisation and Civil Society in Africa: A Study of South Africa, Ghana and Uganda', IDS Discussion Paper 368 (Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, 1999).
42. Barya (note 27).
43. Kihato and Rapoo (note 10).
44. Ibid.
45. Mackay and Mathoho (note 11).
46. Barya (note 27).
47. M. Robinson, 'Strengthening Civil Society in Africa: The Role of Foreign Political Aid', IDS Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 2 (1995), pp. 70-80.
48. J. Hearn, 'Foreign Political Aid, Democratisation, and Civil Society in Uganda in the 1990s', Working Paper 53 (Kampala: Centre for Basic Research, 1999);
49. J. Hearn, 'Aiding Democracy? Donors and Civil Society in South Africa', Third World Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 5 (2000), pp. 815-30;
50. C. Landsberg, 'Voicing the Voiceless: Foreign Political Aid to Civil Society in South Africa', in M. Ottaway and T. Carothers (eds), Funding Virtue: Civil Society Aid and Democracy Promotion (Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2000), pp. 105-3;
51. C. Kihato, 'Shifting Sands: The Relationship between Foreign Donors and South African Civil Society During and After Apartheid', Research Report 86 (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 2001).
52. Hearn (note 39).
53. K. Shubane, 'Local Context: The Politics of European and American Donor Intervention in South Africa under Apartheid', Policy: Issues and Actors, Vol. 12, No. 3, Social Policy Series (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 1999).
54. S. Friedman and M. Reitzes, 'Funding freedom? Synthesis Report on the Impact of Foreign Political Aid to Civil Society Organisations in South Africa', Research Report 85 (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 2001).
55. Hlophe et al. (note 24).
56. Gershater (note 21).
57. Mathoho and Schmitz (note 25).
58. A study of rural grassroots organizations in South Africa found considerable resistance to receiving donor funding out of a concern for absorption capacity and the potential destabilising effects of external assistance. It concluded that an approach that placed grassroots organizations in touch with sources support and influence in the society might be more appropriate than infusion of money to cover operational costs. See Centre for Policy Studies, 'Civil Society and Poverty Reduction in Southern Africa', mimeo (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 2002).
59. Shubane (note 48).
60. The tension between the role of civil society in providing a means of galvanizing democratic participation as opposed to a vehicle for critical engagement with the state lies at the heart of contemporary theoretical discourses on civil society. For an extended discussion see J. L. Cohen and A. Arato, Civil Society and Political Theory (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995).
61. Hadenius and Uggla (note 1).
62. M. Robinson and G. White (eds), The Democratic Developmental State: Politics and Institutional Design (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998);
63. S. Bastian and R. Luckham (eds), Can Democracy be Designed? The Politics of Institutional Choice in Conflict-Torn Societies (London: Zed Books, 2003).
64. Hearn (note 39)
65. J. Howell, 'Making Civil Society from the Outside: Challenges for Donors', European Journal of Development Research, Vol. 12, No. 1 (2000), pp. 3-22.
66. Gyimah-Boadi et al. (note 2).
67. Such support was of critical importance for many civil society organisations in South Africa in the early years of their creation and enabled them to develop independent sources of funding over time. See K. Shubane, 'No Easy Walk to Civility: Civil Society Organisations and the South African Context', Policy: Issues and Actors, Vol. 12, No. 4, Social Policy Series (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies, 1999).