An article in Foreign Affairs, the leading voice of what remains of the U.S. foreign-policy establishment, was stark and, for some, terrifying. “The End of the Age of NGOs?” the headline asked, and the subhead brought the bad news: “How Civil Society Lost Its Post-Cold War Power.”
Authors Sarah Bush and Jennifer Hadden put their fingers on one of the most important international developments of our time. After the Cold War, human-rights, development and democracy promotion-groups, nominally private but often funded by Western governments, gained prominence and clout around the world.