Comparative Politics Commons^™

Supporters Or Challengers? The Effects Of Nongovernmental Organizations On Local Politics In Bolivia., Carew E. Boulding, Clark Gibson

Carew E Boulding

How do non-governmental organizations (NGOs) affect local politics in developing democracies? Specifically, do NGOs have systematic effects on the fortunes of incumbent political parties in local elections? Existing work predicts starkly contradictory political effects: some scholars claim NGOs should help incumbents by providing services for which politicians can claim credit, while others believe that NGOs should hurt incumbents by facilitating political opposition. We argue that both these effects are possible, depending on the size of a jurisdiction's population. In smaller populations, we hypothesize that NGOs facilitate collective action and decrease the ability of an incumbent to claim credit for their …