ABSTRACT
This chapter examines, in the US context, challenges to existing nongovernmental organization (NGO) involvement in the aid system and their possible implications. The 1990s were a period of considerable change for NGOs in the aid industry, and the first five years of the twenty-first century, as the editors of this volume argue, have been remarkable for the number of global and national events that shake and shape the aid establishment. The chapter proceeds by first setting the stage, reviewing the dynamics of NGOs in the aid system. It examines NGOs and aid flows, including the impact of antiterrorism initiatives and occupation and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. The chapter discusses political roles and voice of NGOs, and, argues that a substantial advocacy agenda has become an expected feature of development NGO activity, and that important shifts are occurring in the substantive focus and strategies of US based development and humanitarian NGOs.
