Cross-posted from the Harvard Kennedy School website. By Peter Bell For most of the last 23 years, Myanmar (formerly Burma) has been ruled by a repressive military regime that overthrew the previous democratically elected president. Wedged between China and Thailand, Myanmar has become known for the regime’s violation of basic human rights, the suffering of [...]

Recently the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, in partnership with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, hosted a seminar exploring the extent to which international NGOs are influencing world politics.   As part of the panel, Robert Paarlberg, professor of political science at Wellesley College and an associate at Weatherhead, posed two questions: Have NGOs [...]

The effort to provide relief to survivors of the Myanmar cyclone and the Chinese earthquake resurfaces questions of how to effectively mobilize and deploy charitable contributions in an international emergency. People across the U.S. interested in making contributions want to know that their gifts, large or small, are being put to good use. And as [...]