This month's Global Connection Speaker Series presents Dr. Jennifer Brass on the topic, "Allies or Adversaries? NGOs and the State in Africa" from noon to 1300 in Glasgow Hall Room 322.

Short Description:

Developing countries around the world have witnessed a proliferation of nongovernmental, non-profit organizations (NGOs) providing services like education, healthcare and piped drinking water in their territory. What happens to the social contract in these situations, where nonstate actors step between citizens and states to provide services traditionally associated with governments? How does the governance of service provision change? And what impact do NGOs have on state capacity? Allies or Adversaries: NGOs and the State in Africa answers these questions by tracing in detail the interactions between public officials, NGOs and citizens. Brass demonstrates how, under the right conditions, NGOs can supplement governing presence within a territory, expand a state’s capacity to provide services, influence a turn toward participatory governance practices, and even boost the legitimacy of the state. Through inter-related arguments about the changing nature of NGO-government relations, policymaking and implementation of service provision, and state-society relations, Brass brings to light a new pattern of governance, in which NGOs have come to comprise part of the de facto organizational make-up of the state in developing countries.

Short Bio:

Dr. Jennifer N. Brass is an expert on service provision, governance, and state development, with a primary geographic focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Her book, Allies or Adversaries? NGOs and the State in Africa (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming), examines the role that nongovernmental organizations play in service provision, state-society relations, and state development. Related to her monograph, Brass’s newest research agenda aims to synthesize collective knowledge about the effects and effectiveness of NGOs using systematic review techniques. A second, collaborative project examines the politics and governance of renewable and small-scale electricity provision in developing countries. Brass has conducted extensive field research in Senegal, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda. She holds a Ph.D. and masters in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.