Crowded Out

Explains three important but unexamined trends in INGO politics: decreased foundings, increased specialization, and increased geographic dispersion.

International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) are central participants in world politics, but recent trends include decreased INGO foundings, increased mission specialization, and increased geographic dispersion. Crowded Out explores and explains these consequential developments. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.Crowded Out delves into the complex landscape of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs). Bush and Hadden trace INGOs' rise to prominence at the end of the twentieth century and three significant but overlooked recent trends: a decrease in new INGO foundings, despite persistent global need; a shift towards specialization, despite the complexity of global problems; and a dispersal of INGO activities globally, despite potential gains from concentrating on areas of acute need. Assembling a wealth of new data on INGO foundings, missions, and locations, Bush and Hadden show how INGOs are being crowded out of dense organizational environments. They conduct case studies of INGOs across issue areas, relying on dozens of interviews and a large-scale survey to bring practitioners' voices to the study of INGOs. To effectively address today's global challenges, organizations must innovate in a crowded world. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.