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Governing Through Patronage: The Rise of NGOs and the Fall of Civil Society in Palestine and Morocco

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Mona Atia Open the ORCID record for Mona Atia [Opens in a new window]  and
Catherine E. Herrold
Mona Atia*
Affiliation:
The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
Catherine E. Herrold*
Affiliation:
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA
*
atia@gwu.edu
cherrold@iupui.edu
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Abstract

This article examines foreign aid and government funding to NGOs as forms of patronage and explores the impact of such funding on the nature and role of civil society. Using qualitative research from Palestine and Morocco, we argue that patronage transforms NGOs into apparatuses of governing. NGOs become key sites for the exercise of productive power through the technologies of professionalization, bureaucratization, and upward accountability. The article explores how this transformation of NGOs depoliticizes their work while undermining their role as change agents within civil society. The findings have implications for understanding the transformation of NGOs, the relationship between patrons and their grantees, and, finally, for exploring the limitations of NGOs as vehicles for social change in sensitive political environments.

Keywords

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGO)Civil societyGoverningPatronagePalestineMorocco

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations , Volume 29 , Issue 5 , October 2018 , pp. 1044 - 1054
Copyright
Copyright © International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University 2018

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