Premium
Reconceptualizing state‐society relations in Tanzania: are NGOs ‘making a difference’? 1
Author(s) -
Mercer Claire
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
area
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1475-4762
pISSN - 0004-0894
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4762.1999.tb00089.x
Subject(s) - tanzania , panacea (medicine) , civil society , state (computer science) , political science , inequality , reproduction , sociology , political economy , public administration , development economics , economic growth , socioeconomics , politics , law , economics , biology , medicine , mathematical analysis , ecology , alternative medicine , mathematics , pathology , algorithm , computer science
Summary Non‐governmental organizations are increasingly regarded as the development panacea for the 1990s and beyond. This paper critically explores the emerging relations between the state and actors within ‘civil society’ in Tanzania, and suggests that NGOs may not be able to fulfil the role being foisted upon them. Issues arising at both national and local scales demonstrate that state–society relations are characterized by unequal patterns of participation, which suggest that NGOs are contributing towards the reproduction of inequality