This book provides the most detailed study available of the ways in which NGO-state-donor relationships have changed the role that NGOs play in development. The book is introduced by the two leading international experts on the topic, and the contributors are leading academics and senior practitioners. The picture that emerges from the general reviews and detailed case-studies of African, Asian and Latin American NGOs is a complex one.

However, the authors conclude that there is much evidence that NGOs are 'losing their roots' - getting closer to donors and governments and more distant from the poor and disempowered whom they seek to assist.