Government-Organised Non-Governmental Organisations/GONGOs: Would You Like to Know More?

By Péter MARTON

To answer the question in the title:* I would.

Ironically, one of the best texts so far on a subject whose study originates from the Chinese context, with examples like the Human Rights Society of China in mind, is this brief paper (by Chris Carothers). A research memo, from a workshop.

It is not bad for starters, though, and at least it offers a basic typology that covers "propaganda", "militant" and "development" NGOs. And some of the uses these have for autocratic and, let's say, imperfectly democratic political regimes (such as attracting funding away from genuine NGOs/civil society, or creating the semblance of mass support for government decisions, policies and entire agendas, even).

This is great, but of course the political regimes in question are more creative than this. Everyone who hasn't been living under a bucket lately is probably aware of the presence of GONGOs in politics, and how that is felt in even more diverse ways than the ones suggested by the typology above.

Researching the subject can be tricky, for various reasons, and this probably holds the study of GONGOs back a little bit.

But from China, through Russia, all the way to Hungary (and elsewhere) there is certainly a lot of relevance to build on...

* The title is reference to funny propaganda video clips featured in the movie Starship Troopers, a not-very-faithful film adaptation of the Robert Heinlein novel of the same title. The movie is worth quoting as it was at least good in its own way (even if fans of the Heinlein novel were rightly outraged by it).