Why read Civil Society Exposed?

Book cover of Civil Society Exposed: The Politics of NGOs in Egypt

Book description

Is the concept of civil society relevant to social and political change? What is the role of its most well-known agents, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), in promoting emancipatory projects? Maha Abdelrahman analyses the empirical case of Egyptian 'civil society' in order to ascertain whether the experience of civil society organisations, and…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Civil Society Exposed as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Mayssoun Sukarieh

Author

The book is one of the first books that critically looked at NGOs, not as agents of change but as the infrastructure of the spread of the ideology of neoliberalism.

Maha brings back Gramsci to the study of civil society in the Middle East and critique the celebration of civil society as the agent of change in the region- and elsewhere – to argue that civil society is where hegemonic ideas about free market economy is spread. Maha was also one of the first writer to speak of NGOs as employer.

From Mayssoun's list on The best books on cities and travelling ideas.