Accountability, Governance, and Non-governmental Organizations: A Comparative Study of Twelve Asia-Pacific Nations

A global ‘associational revolution’ appears to be underway in many parts of the world and the rise of private voluntary organizations is beginning to have significant impacts on many nations’ democratic governance (Salamon, 1993; Kim, 2003). The rise of third sector organizations (TSOs) or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the decline of nationstates are changing not only the way societal players interact, but also the ways in which societies make important decisions (Koehane, 2002). In many developing nations, as well as some developed nations, this pattern of governing challenges the developmental state model, which relies on a strong and centralized government. In other words, unitary centralized governments are giving way to a network form of structure that consists of public and private partners (Kim, 2003a). This implies that the transformation of governance towards a more participatory and democratic model depends on how the traditional bureaucratic state is being reshaped by non-state actors including civil society. Despite a “striking upsurge of organized private, voluntary organizations in all corners of the world (Salamon, 1993),” scholars have noted that civil society finds itself at a crucial crossroads (Anherier, Carlson, & Kendall, 2001). There are many reasons why NGO sectors around the world seemingly are facing crucial challenges including increased commercialism and competition. But NGOs’ lack of internal and external accountability and weak internal organizational governance structure has posed a serious challenge to civil society around the world. This is particularly true for the Asia Pacific civil society as it has grown rapidly in volume over the last three decades before it had chances to institutionalize adequate accountability and internal governance systems. Although the emergence and legitimacy of NGOs in democratic governance has been well