New paths to democratic development in Latin America : the rise of NGO-municipal collaboration /

These essays examine the emerging cooperation between municipal governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Latin America. Reilly (InterAmerican Foundation) and the other authors, primarily Latin Americans, have close ties with NGOs. Drawing on an extensive bibliography and chapters on Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia, Reilly argues that the trends documented in health care and other services represent "a different breed of social policy" that is "incremental and pragmatic, diversified and decentralized." Many readers will feel unsatisfied with the balance between the descriptive detail of the case studies and the generalizations of Reilly's introduction and conclusion, with undergraduates needing more specifics and scholars yearning for more analysis. A more serious flaw is the uncritical acceptance of the promise of these new developments. Nevertheless, although targeting more technocratic efforts than Direct to the Poor: Grassroots Development in Latin America (1988), ed. by Sheldon Annis and Peter Hakim, New Paths joins this earlier research in highlighting development initiatives at the local level that richly deserve attention. Upper-division undergraduate through faculty. A. B. Cochran; Agnes Scott College