Four criteria of development NGO legitimacy

The increasing prominence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as agents of development raises normative questions concerning their involvement in this process. These questions can be grouped together as issues of "legitimacy." This paper suggests four criteria of development NGO legitimacy, explained as either formal-procedural or substantive-purposive. It concludes by arguing that NGOs and governments each have distinctive roles and responsibilities in the development process. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.