In this paper we argue that nonprofit, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) constitute crucial sites at which welfare state restructuring and neoliberalism are enacted and materialised in everyday life practices. This paper responds to recent calls from geographers to move to finer scales of analysis that enrich our understanding about the geographies of welfare state restructuring and neoliberalism. Our response is based on case-study research of NGOs that provide social services to migrants in Minneapolis-St Paul, USA, and Toronto, Canada. We draw on the concept of ‘translation’ to show the agency of NGOs in articulating macroscale programmes of governance into concrete regulations that govern the conduct of everyday life. The case studies demonstrate the usefulness of seeing NGOs as translation mechanisms to current debates about the role of NGOs amidst welfare state restructuring and the rise of neoliberalism.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlexanderJNankRStiversC, 1999, “Implications of welfare reform: do nonprofit survival strategies threaten civil society?”Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly28452–475
2.
ArmonyVBarrigaMSchugurenskyD, 2004, “Citizenship learning and political participation: the experience of Latin American immigrants in Canada”Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies2917–38
3.
BantingK G, 2000The Non-profit Sector in Canada (McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal)
4.
BarnettC, 2005, “The consolations of ‘neoliberalism’”Geoforum367–12
5.
BauderH, 2003, “‘Brain abuse’, or the devaluation of immigrant labour in Canada”Antipode35699–717
6.
BloemraadI, 2005, “The limits of de Tocqueville: how government facilitates organizational capacity in newcomer communities”Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies31865–887
7.
BondiLLaurieN2005, “Introduction. Working the spaces of neoliberalism: activism, professionalisation and incorporation”Antipode37394–401
8.
BrennerNTheodoreN, 2002, “From the ‘new localism’ to the spaces of neoliberalism”Antipode34341–347
9.
BrownM, 1997Replacing Citizenship: AIDS Activism and Radical Democracy (Guilford Press, New York)
10.
BrubakerR, 2003, “The return of assimilation? Changing perspectives on immigration and its sequels in France, Germany, and the United States”, in Toward Assimilation and Citizenship: Immigrants in Liberal Nation-states Eds JoppkeCMorawskaE (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hants) pp 39–58
11.
CastreeN, 2006, “From neoliberalism to neoliberalisation: consolations, confusions, and necessary illusions”Environment and Planning A381–6
12.
ChristensenREbrahimA, 2006, “How does accountability affect mission? The case of a nonprofit serving immigrants and refugees”Nonprofit Management and Leadership17195–209
CopeM, 2001, “Between welfare and work: the roles of social service organizations in the social regulation of labor markets of the poor”Urban Geography22391–406
15.
CopeMGilbertM, 2001, “Geographies of welfare reform: introduction to the special issue”Urban Geography22385–390
16.
ElwoodS, 2006, “Beyond cooptation or resistance: urban spatial politics, community organizations, and GIS-based spatial narratives”Annals of the Association of American Geographers96323–341
17.
FassS, 1986, “Innovations in the struggle for self-reliance”International Migration Review20351–380
18.
FyfeNMilliganC, 2003a, “Out of the shadows: exploring contemporary geographies of voluntarism”Progress in Human Geography27397–413
19.
FyfeNMilliganC, 2003b, “Space, citizenship, and voluntarism: critical reflections on the voluntary welfare sector in Glasgow”Environment and Planning A352069–2086
20.
HallMBantingK G, 2000, “The nonprofit sector in Canada: an introduction”, in The Non-profit Sector in Canada Ed. BantingK G (McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal) pp 1–28
21.
HiebertDCollinsJSpoonleyP, 2003, “Uneven globalization: neoliberal regimes, immigration, and multiculturalism in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand”, WP 03-05, Research on Immigration and Integration in the Metropolis, Vancouver, BC
22.
HulaRJackson-ElmooreC, (Eds), 2000Nonprofits in Urban America (Quorum Books, Westport, CT)
23.
IlcanSBasokT, 2004, “Community government: voluntary agencies, social justice, and the responsibilization of citizens”Citizenship Studies8129–144
24.
JonasAWhileA, 2005, “Governance”, in Cultural Geography: A Critical Dictionary of Key Concepts Eds AtkinsonDJacksonPSibleyDWashbourneN (I B Tauris, London) pp 72–79
25.
JoppkeCMorawskaE2003, “Integrating immigrants in liberal nation-states: policies and practices”, in Toward Assimilation and Citizenship in Liberal Nation-states Eds JoppkeCMorawskaE (Palgrave Macmillan, New York) pp 1–36
26.
KodrasJ, 1997, “Restructuring the state: devolution, privatization, and the geographic redistribution of power and capacity of governance”, in State Devolution in America: Implications for a Diverse Society Eds StaeheliLKodrasJFlintC (Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA) pp 79–96
27.
LarnerW, 2000, “Neo-liberalism: policy, ideology, governmentality”Studies in Political Economy635–25
28.
LarnerW, 2003, “Neoliberalism?”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space21509–512
29.
LeRouxK, 2007, “Nonprofits as civic intermediaries: the role of community-based organizations in promoting political participation”Urban Affairs Review42410–422
30.
Mardag Foundation, 1985, “Southeast Asian refugee mutual assistance associations in Minnesota”, Mardag Foundation, 55 Fifth Street East, Suite 600, St Paul, MN 55101-1797
31.
MartinDHollowayS, 2005, “Organizing diversity: scales of demographic change and neighborhood organizing in St Paul, MN”Environment and Planning A371091–1112
32.
MillerC, 1998, “Canadian non-profits in crisis: the need for reform”Social Policy and Administration32401–419
33.
MitchellK, 1998, “Reworking democracy: contemporary immigration and community politics in Vancouver's Chinatown”Political Geography17729–750
34.
MitchellK, 2001, “Transnationalism, neo-liberalism, and the rise of the shadow state”Economy and Society30165–189
35.
MitchellK, 2003, “Educating the national citizen in neoliberal times: from the multicultural self to the strategic cosmopolitan”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series28387–403
36.
MitchellK, 2004Crossing the Neoliberal Line: Pacific Rim Migration and the Metropolis (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA)
37.
MiyaresI, 1998The Hmong Refugee Experience in the United States (Garland Publishing, New York)
38.
MorgenS, 2001, “The agency of welfare workers: negotiating devolution, privatization, and the meaning of self-sufficiency”American Anthropologist103747–761
OngA, 2003Buddha is Hiding (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA)
41.
OsborneDGaeblerT, 1992Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA)
42.
PeckJ, 2001Workfare States (Guilford Press, New York)
43.
PeckJ, 2004, “Geography and public policy: constructions of neoliberalism”Progress in Human Geography28392–405
44.
PerronsDSkyersS, 2003, “Empowerment through participation? Conceptual explorations and a case study”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research27265–285
45.
RacoM, 2003, “Governmentality, subject-building, and the discourses and practices of devolution in the UK”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series2875–95
46.
RekartJ, 1993Public Funds, Private Provision: The Role of the Voluntary sector (University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver)
47.
RichmondT, 1996, “The effects of cutbacks on immigrant services agencies: results of an action research project”, City of Toronto Public Health Department, Toronto
48.
RidleyFWilsonD, (Eds), 1995The Quango Debate (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
49.
RoseN, 1999Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)
50.
SadiqK D, 2004, “The two-tier settlement system: a review of current newcomer settlement services in Canada”, WP 34, CERIS, Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, Toronto
51.
Saint Paul Foundation, 1984, “Refugees in Ramsey County”, Saint Paul Foundation, 55 Fifth Street East, Suite 600, St Paul, MN 55101-1797
52.
SalamonL, 1995Partners in Public Service: Government – Nonprofit Relations in the Modern Welfare State (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD)
53.
SalamonL, 1999, “The non-profit sector at the cross-roads: the case of America”Voluntas105–23
54.
SalamonL, 2002, “The resilient sector: the state of nonprofit America”, in The State of Nonprofit America Ed. SalamonL (The Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC) pp 3–64
55.
SmithSLipskyM, 1993Nonprofits for Hire: The Welfare State in the Age of Contracting (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
56.
StaeheliLKodrasJFlintC, (Eds), 1997State Devolution in America: Implications for a Diverse Society (Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA)
57.
Statistics Canada, 20032001 Census of Canada Catalogue Number 97F0009XCB2001003, (Statistics Canada, Ottawa)
58.
TownsendJ GTownsendA R, 2004, “Accountability, motivation and practice: NGOs North and South”Social and Cultural Geography5271–284
59.
TrudeauD, 2006American Citizenship and State Devolution: Nonprofit Organizations and the Dominance of Liberal Citizenship in the Shadow State doctoral dissertation, Department of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
60.
TrudeauD, 2008, “Junior partner or empowered community? The role of nonprofit social service providers amidst state restructuring”Urban Studies452805–2827
61.
TwomblyE, 2001Human service Non-profits in Metropolitan Areas During Devolution and Welfare Reform (The Urban Institute, Washington, DC)
62.
VeronisL, 2006Rethinking Transnationalism: Citizenship and Immigrant Participation in Neoliberal Toronto doctoral dissertation, Department of Geography, University of Toronto
63.
WolchJ, 1990, “The shadow state: government and voluntary sector in transition”, The Foundation Center, New York
64.
WolchJ, 1999, “Decentering America's nonprofit sector: reflections on Salamon's crises”Voluntas1025–35
65.
WolpertJ, 1997, “How federal cutbacks affect the charitable sector”, in State Devolution in America: Implications for a Diverse Society Eds StaeheliLKodrasJFlintC (Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA) pp 97–117
