TY - CHAP
T1 - Building civil societies in east central Europe
T2 - The effect of American nongovernmental organizations on women's Groups
AU - Mcmahon, Patrice C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Patrice C. McMahon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The research on which this article is based was supported by The Open Society Institute of New York and The Carnegie Corporation of New York. It was undertaken in conjunction with a two-year project entitled ‘Democracy Assistance and NGO Strategies in Post-Communist Societies’. For more on this project, see The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace website, http://www.ceip.org. This article benefited significantly from the comments of Fiona Adamson, Jeff Cole, Larry Diamond, David Forsythe, Rajan Menon, David Rapkin and Jack Snyder.
PY - 2004/2/26
Y1 - 2004/2/26
N2 - Since the collapse of communism, East Central Europe has been a laboratory for democratic experimentation. On several fronts, the experiment appears to have been a great success. While many have described this historical transformation, too little has been written about the role of international actors in this process. This is surprising given the number of external actors, particularly American nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The article examines the relationship between American NGOs and women's groups in Hungary, Poland and Russia. It argues that although American NGOs have had discrete positive effects on certain groups and individuals, the strategies employed by these groups may have actually hindered the success of the very goals they pursued. Employing the concept of a domestic advocacy network, the article explains the importance of elite support, contextually rooted organizations and ideas that resonate with local conditions and culture.
AB - Since the collapse of communism, East Central Europe has been a laboratory for democratic experimentation. On several fronts, the experiment appears to have been a great success. While many have described this historical transformation, too little has been written about the role of international actors in this process. This is surprising given the number of external actors, particularly American nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The article examines the relationship between American NGOs and women's groups in Hungary, Poland and Russia. It argues that although American NGOs have had discrete positive effects on certain groups and individuals, the strategies employed by these groups may have actually hindered the success of the very goals they pursued. Employing the concept of a domestic advocacy network, the article explains the importance of elite support, contextually rooted organizations and ideas that resonate with local conditions and culture.
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U2 - 10.4324/9780203493786
DO - 10.4324/9780203493786
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:84906524180
SN - 0203493788
SN - 9780203493786
SP - 247
EP - 269
BT - Civil Society in Democratization
PB - Frank Cass
ER -