"The End of the Age of NGOs?"

The sun is setting on international nongovernmental organizations, according to researchers.

We used to think of Civil Society as an indispensable feature of participatory democratic society. Western nations often pointed to the existence of a vibrant unchecked and ungoverned civil society as evidence that Democracy was the superior form of collective existence. But in recent years, populist rhetoric asserts the opposite — that Civil Society is actually harmful to the people. Autocratic societies have always believed that to be the case and, as a result, impose stringent government controls on Civil Society. China, where NGOs must operate under strict government supervision consistent with communist party doctrine, is the easiest example. But western democracies are lately indulging a growing sense of suspicion and control over Civil Society, not just in the United States but in Europe as well.