ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in democracy promotion, documenting their successes and failures. It discusses the impact of NGOs in two domains of democracy promotion: foreign aid programs designed to support democracy and good governance, and efforts to monitor states’ performance in terms of democracy. The chapter considers both NGOs’ successes and challenges, including as a consequence of authoritarian countries’ efforts to subvert the activities of NGOs. It reviews the role of NGOs in promoting democracy within states and outlines the role of NGOs in promoting democracy within institutions of global governance. Many NGOs that play prominent roles in the democracy promotion field–sometimes termed the “democracy establishment” or the “democracy bureaucracy”–were founded during the field’s period of growth immediately before and after the end of the Cold War. The United States government has historically provided more funding than any other government for democracy promotion.
