Thanks for that important point and question, Tim. On Mon, Feb 19, 2018 at 2:36 PM, Forsyth,TJ <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dear Aseem and colleagues > Congratulations on your excellent article in the WP. But please can I > suggest that we all pause before fixing this narrative of the Oxfam crisis? > > I am not for one second condoning the behaviour of the staff in Haiti, nor > Oxfam’s economy of the truth in reporting it. But I do want to stress how > the story about Oxfam, and the recent flurry of added allegations about the > aid sector, have come at a time in the UK when there is a very clear > campaign to discredit overseas aid. The UK passed a law in 2015 to make it > a legal requirement to spend 0.7 percent of GNP on overseas aid, which has > been vigorously opposed by the same politicians and newspapers who have > fought to leave the EU. Many analysts believe that reducing trust in one of > the oldest brands associated with international aid is an effective route > to influencing public debate about aid along those same libertarian lines. > > Your article asks: "Why do nonprofit organizations behave in unprincipled > ways?” That’s a very good question. But I think we also have to ask “What > are the influences on the information we receive about nonprofits?” and “Do > other sectors get the same scrutiny?” I suggest we need to be more > cautious about how to interpret this widespread criticism of the aid sector > before assuming the stories are facts, and that the lessons are clear. > > Best regards > Tim F > Professor, Department of International Development, > London School of Economics and Political Science > > > > > On 19 Feb 2018, at 18:32, [email protected] wrote: > > > > > Colleagues: > > Several scholars on this list study nonprofits/NGOs and have written on > governance failures. The article > we published on the Oxfam scandal in the Washington Post/Monkey Cage Today > might interest them: > The Oxfam scandal shows that, yes, nonprofits can behave badly. So why > aren’t they overseen like for-profits? > > https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/ > 02/19/the-oxfam-scandal-shows-that-yes-nonprofits-can- > behave-badly-so-why-arent-they-overseen-like-for-profits/?utm_term=. > 2c52a0e35df4 > > The civic sector plays an important role in the contemporary society.Yet, > the Oxfam scandal (and other scandals that are now getting revealed as well > as the cover-up at Oxfam since 2011 of the Haiti episode) raises serious > questions about our theoretical understanding of the NGO/nonprofit sector. > > Yes, this is not the first scandal. Nevertheless, if a moral leader such > as Oxfam has serious governance failures, we should seriously examine our > conception of the NGO/NPO sector -- with the intent to reform it. To do so, > we need to study both the successes and failures of NPO/NGO governance. > > Aseem > > > ******************************************************************** > > Aseem Prakash > Professor, Department of Political Science > Walker Family Professor for the College of Arts and Sciences > Founding Director, UW Center for Environmental Politics > 39 Gowen Hall, Box 353530 > University of Washington > Seattle, WA 98195-3530 > > http://faculty.washington.edu/aseem/ > http://depts.washington.edu/envirpol/ > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "gep-ed" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Kathleen McAfee Professor, International Relations San Francisco State University [email protected] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
