Economist
Defenders of democracy everywhere — in the developed and the developing world alike — should welcome foreign funding of local NGOs, according to University of Minnesota professors Ronald R. Krebs and James Ron. Democracy is much more than free and fair elections alone. At its heart lies the idea that competition among meaningful alternatives generates better policy outcomes — or at least helps governments avoid the worst ones, they write for Foreign Policy:
Local NGOs can, and should, work harder to cultivate domestic support, both financial and political. The stronger their local financial base, the better they will weather global economic storms. The stronger their local political base, the better they will resist domestic scapegoating. But their reliance on outside aid should not be mistaken as anti-democratic or seditious.
