ABSTRACT
Like many so-called developing countries, Bangladesh has attracted a wide range of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), mainly from Western countries, that have worked on disaster relief, welfare and development issues. But what is perhaps unusual has been the scale and influence of the country’s home-grown or indigenous NGO sector. This phenomenon is the result of a complex set of factors, including Bengal’s long and varied traditions of community organization, religious charity and political resistance. This wider sphere of organized citizen action, which to some extent underpins the country’s modern NGO sector, came during the 1990s to be characterized as civil society. As we shall see, both the NGO sector and the idea of civil society have been controversial subjects during the past 40 years of the country’s history.
