TY - JOUR
T1 - Project-Think and the Fragmentation and Defragmentation of Civil Society in Egypt, Palestine, and Turkey
AU - Zencirci, Gizem
AU - Herrold, Catherine E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - By drawing from authors’ fieldwork in Egypt, Palestine, and Turkey, this article critically examines perceptions of project-think among civic organizations in the Middle East. As a managerial rationality, project-think has four key components: (a) a prioritization of discrete needs and discrete groups, (b) an orientation toward funding, (c) a focus on short-term and measurable results, and (d) the positioning of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as career ladders. Through unpacking these four components, we find that project-think is perceived to contribute to the fragmentation of civil society by fracturing social issues, dividing the NGO sector, isolating organizational energy, and complicating relations between groups. Simultaneously, we demonstrate that, civic actors use various strategies to circumvent the perceived impacts of fragmentation. By mapping these intertwined meanings and experiences of fragmentation and defragmentation, this study contributes to debates concerning the political effects of managerialism among civil society in the Global South.
AB - By drawing from authors’ fieldwork in Egypt, Palestine, and Turkey, this article critically examines perceptions of project-think among civic organizations in the Middle East. As a managerial rationality, project-think has four key components: (a) a prioritization of discrete needs and discrete groups, (b) an orientation toward funding, (c) a focus on short-term and measurable results, and (d) the positioning of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as career ladders. Through unpacking these four components, we find that project-think is perceived to contribute to the fragmentation of civil society by fracturing social issues, dividing the NGO sector, isolating organizational energy, and complicating relations between groups. Simultaneously, we demonstrate that, civic actors use various strategies to circumvent the perceived impacts of fragmentation. By mapping these intertwined meanings and experiences of fragmentation and defragmentation, this study contributes to debates concerning the political effects of managerialism among civil society in the Global South.
KW - Middle East
KW - NGOization
KW - civil society
KW - critical nonprofit studies
KW - managerialism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85120457396&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85120457396&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/08997640211057450
DO - 10.1177/08997640211057450
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85120457396
SN - 0899-7640
VL - 51
SP - 545
EP - 565
JO - Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
JF - Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
IS - 3
ER -