IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/mcgdn_v1.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Are Donors Really Responding? Analyzing the Impact of Global Restrictions on NGOs

Author

Listed:
  • Chaudhry, Suparna
  • Heiss, Andrew

    (Georgia State University)

Abstract

Foreign donors routinely use nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to deliver aid abroad. However, recent decades have witnessed a global cascade of restrictive anti-NGO legislation. How have foreign aid donors responded and adapted to this legal crackdown on NGOs? Using original data from all countries that received aid from 1981–2012, we assess the impact of anti-NGO laws on total flows of official foreign aid, the nature of projects funded, and the channels used for distributing this aid. Overall, we find that donors scale back their operations in repressive countries. However, rather than completely withdraw, we also find that donors redirect funds within restrictive countries by decreasing funds for politically sensitive issues in favor of regime-compatible causes. Donors also channel more aid through domestic rather than foreign NGOs; however, this change is by no means a perfect substitute. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for official aid donors, INGOs, and local groups working on contentious causes such as elections, human rights, media, corruption, and advocacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Chaudhry, Suparna & Heiss, Andrew, 2025. "Are Donors Really Responding? Analyzing the Impact of Global Restrictions on NGOs," SocArXiv mcgdn_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:mcgdn_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/mcgdn_v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/685bfc141ba47701630703bc/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/mcgdn_v1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:mcgdn_v1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.