Relations between NGOs, social movements and state: Symbolic boundaries, institutionalization and legitimacy

Dysman, Maria Carolina

Although traditionally social movements serve as channels between society and state, canalizing demands of marginalized groups in Latin America, recently NGOs have occupied that space as well. In order to comprehend what the increasing activities of NGOs and declining role of traditional social movements means in the context of changing patterns of interaction between authority and solidarity we point at the Brazilian experience in the last decades. In Brazil, activities that were formerly exclusive responsibility of the state are currently being partnered with NGOs. Despite their growing importance in the political scenario, it is still not clear how the civil society organizations interact with the state in particular contexts. Our analysis is based on 49 interviews with NGOs´ directors in Rio Janeiro in 2008, which are confronted with survey data collected among 301 NGOs in five states in Brazil. We intend to analyze i) how the relations between social movements and NGOs have changed in recent years, the institutionalization of those organizations and their increasing participation in political institutional arenas; ii) the perceptions of NGOs´ directors about the state as well as the construction of symbolic boundaries between them. Our findings show that NGOs´ directors seek to legitimize their organizations’ activities by affirming that they occupy a position that is morally superior and operationally more effective than firms and state institutions, respectively.

539.1 Relations between NGOs, social movements and state: Symbolic boundaries, institutionalization and legitimacy