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 [...]

By Peter Bell In late April, Sherine Jayawickrama’s post Great Expectations, Rising Impatience: A Watershed Moment for U.S. Foreign Assistance posed several questions. Steve Feldstein responded to her question related to the evident imbalance among the 3Ds (defense, diplomacy and development).  This post provides a different perspective on the question. I appreciate Steve Feldstein’s effort [...]

The last session of this year’s NGOs & Development Study Group will be held on Thursday, April 22 from 4.00 to 5.00 pm in Belfer L4 at Harvard Kennedy School. The session is titled “The Challenges of Haiti: A Critical Test for International NGOs.”  Peter Bell, Senior Research Fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations and [...]

Michael Edwards, who recently stepped down as director of the Governance and Civil Society Program at the Ford Foundation, explores similar issues in “Have NGOs Made a Difference?”* He finds that development NGOs have been influential in getting the mainstream to address the negative aspects of globalization, commit to participation and human rights as basic [...]