Countering Convergence: Agency and Diversity Among Guatemalan NGOs

I'd like to welcome a guest post from Erin Beck based on her research on Guatemalan NGOs which recently appeared in Latin American Politics & Society (Countering Convergence: Agency and Diversity Among Guatemalan NGOs). Erin is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon.

The proliferation of nongovernmental organizations across the developing world has sparked discussions of the “NGOization” of civil society and concern that NGOs have become increasingly uniform and internally homogenous. Recently though, there has been a push to move beyond the “good NGO, bad NGO” binary (Alvarez 2009, 176) that depicts NGOs as passive and uniform.

This article responds to the call by addressing the nature and causes of diversity among Guatemalan NGOs. It begins with the historical evolution of NGOs in Guatemala since the 1960s, demonstrating that the diversity that exists today is partly a result of a historical process in which old NGOs adjusted to, and influenced, their environment at the same time that new types of NGOs were established. It then draws on long-term ethnographies of two microcredit NGOs in order to explore elements of change and continuity within NGOs that have further contributed to diversity.

Intraorganizational diversity is partly the result of strategic decisionmaking within NGOs, layering of old and new forms in unique organizational context, and these two processes’ unanticipated and unintended consequences. Agency on the part of NGOs and continued diversity within NGOs has important implications on the ground. The ability of NGOs to resist external pressures and to affect their environments means that they are important political actors that can play independent (positive or negative) roles in the process of development and democratization. Continued intraorganizational diversity also implies that people participating in different NGOs are likely to have distinct experiences, colored by unique organizational contexts. This suggests that broad assumptions about NGOs’ effects for people and communities need to be qualified.

The challenge of political transformation of armed and banned groups

I am currently attending a retreat outside Nairobi, Kenya on "The challenge of political transformation of armed and banned groups" co-sponsored by the UNDP and the Berghof Research Center. I am one of the individuals invited to talk a little about the experiences of Central and South America, a region which has seen its fair share of armed actors. Every region of the world looks like it is represented.

Tomorrow I get to speak a little more about the historical transitions in Central and South America while others will look at contemporary dynamics in Colombia. I think one other participant will discuss gangs, paramilitaries, and drug cartels which seems to be the concern for Latin America but doesn't necessarily fit within the retreats's themes (at least from my perspective).

We still have a lot to learn from the region's experience and a lot to learn how much of its experience is relevant to other conflicts. In Latin America, we have failed guerrilla groups (Tupamaros), partially successful groups (FMLN), and successful groups (FSLN) that have have all found their way to the presidency through democratic elections. In Brazil, we have more of an individual tied to an urban armed group that is now in the presidency. We also have guerrilla groups that have been moderately successful (M-19) and not so successful (URNG, Contras, and the Patriotic Union). And while all these conflicts are over, there remain ongoing conflicts in Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, and to some extent with the Zapatistas in Mexico.

It's a rich region for scholars to pursue a number of questions related to the emergence and endurance of armed groups as well as their successful and failed transitions to electoral politics. Case studies and comparative studies, local, regional, national, and transnational dynamics, the region is ripe.

Sanchez Ceren inherits security mess in El Salvador

I have a new column up at the World Politics Review that, like many others popping up in the news, criticizes Mauricio Funes' approach to security. As I've made clear, I was a supporter of the gang truce. Given the extreme violence of gangs, drug traffickers, and organized crime, the weak Salvadoran government was in no position to confront daily violence in 2012. 

I hoped that the truce would provide an opportunity for some gang members to "return" to civilian life and for the government to come up with a new plan to combat public security (see my previous Al Jazeera posts). 

Unfortunately, neither reform seems to have taken hold. There have been a few examples of gang members taking advantage of the truce to turn things around but very little in terms of security reform at the national level.

You can read the entire post here (http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/13824/el-salvador-s-new-president-must-deal-with-wreckage-of-gang-truce)