Why everybody is hating on NGOs

KERA's Think

KERA

Society & Culture, 071003, Kera, Think, Krysboyd

4.8 • 861 Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There was a time when NGOs were revered, but now they’re often eyed with suspicion. Suparna Chaudhry is an associate professor of international affairs at Lewis & Clark and the author of the forthcoming book “Civil Societies, Uncivil States: State Repression of NGOs.” She joins guest host John McCaa to discuss what happened to the reputation of NGOs – which once were seen as philanthropic lifelines and now are accused of mismanagement and meddling in international affairs – and what happens to the people on the ground when these organizations do not function as intended. Her article “Why the World Turned on NGOs” was published in Foreign Policy.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	From KERA in Dallas, this is Think. I'm John McKay in for Chris Boyd. There was a time not long ago when the world thought of NGOs or non-governmental organizations as valuable rescuers
0:22.7	independent of government that provided sometimes life-saving assistance on political or social
0:28.4	issues to people around the world. But since their heyday in the 1990s, serious public scrutiny
0:35.3	has diminished their funding, their power, and image around the world.
0:39.7	But what caused, what possibly caused that reason? Well, more importantly, does it mean that fewer
0:45.6	people truly needing help are getting it? Suparno Chaudhry has been studying that for some time now.
0:52.5	She is Associate Professor of International Affairs
0:55.0	at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon
0:57.4	and an affiliated scholar with the International Justice Lab
1:00.9	at the College of William and Mary.
1:03.2	She wrote,
1:04.1	Why the world turned on NGOs from power brokers in the 90s
1:07.8	to pariahs today for Foreign Policy Magazine.
1:11.5	She joins us this hour.
1:12.9	Suparna, welcome to think.
1:15.1	Thank you for having me.
1:17.1	You know, I guess we should start out by talking about NGOs.
1:22.8	When did they start?
1:24.7	They've been around for a while.
1:27.4	Yeah, so NGOs or non-governmental organizations have been around for a while.
1:32.3	We see more and more of them propping up in the 1960s and 1970s.
1:37.3	There's a lot of countries that are getting independent at that time.
	...

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