Left Turn on Green?

This article presents the first attempt to examine the political consequences of internationally funded programs that target local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Although the purported mission of NGOs is often economic, humanitarian, or environmental, the authors suggest that their impact is also profoundly political. Injections of international resources into underdeveloped, often clientelistic societies can fundamentally change the nature of the local political arena, affecting access to economic resources, social benefits, and ultimately the quality of democratic representation. The authors analyze the impact external resources have on politics by examining a series of World Bank-funded projects based in the Brazilian Amazon from 1995 to 1997. They show that World Bank funding designed to channel resources to local groups had powerful effects in the political arena, increasing electoral support for the Left in the 1998 presidential race. This article has important implications for the growing role of NGOs and their influence on politics in the developing world.