NGOs in Contemporary Britain: Non-state Actors in Society and Politics since 1945

315 Pages·2009·1.092 MB·English

by  Nick Crowson, Matthew Hilton, James McKay (eds.)

NGOs in Contemporary Britain
Also by Nick Crowson
THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION SINCE 1945
At the Heart of Europe?
THE LONGMAN COMPANION TO THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY SINCE 1830
FACING FASCISM
The Conservative Party and The European Dictators 1935–40
Also by Matthew Hilton
CHOICE AND JUSTICE
Forty Years of the Malaysian Consumer Movement
PROSPERITY FOR ALL
Consumer Activism in an Era of Globalisation
CONSUMERISM IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITAIN
The Search for a Historical Movement
SMOKING IN BRITISH POPULAR CULTURE, 1800–2000
NGOs in Contemporary
Britain
Non-state Actors in Society and Politics
Since 1945
Edited By
Nick Crowson
Reader in Contemporary British History, University of Birmingham
Matthew Hilton
Professor of Social History, University of Birmingham
James McKay
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Birmingham
Editorial matter and selection © Nick Crowson, Matthew Hilton and
James McKay 2009
Introduction © James McKay and Matthew Hilton 2009
All remaining chapters © their respective authors 2009
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-22109-3
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified
as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2009 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
HampshireRG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries
ISBN 978-1-349-30662-6 ISBN 978-0-230-23407-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230234079
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
Contents
List of Tables vii
Notes on Contributors viii
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
James McKay and Matthew Hilton
1 Peace
Direct Action and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 21
1958–62
Jodi Burkett
2 International Aid and Development
British Humanitarian, Aid and Development NGOs, 38
1949–Present
Clare Saunders
3 Women
Housewives, Workers and Citizens: Voluntary Women’s 59
Organisations and the Campaign for Women’s Rights in
England and Wales during the Post-War Period
Caitriona Beaumont
4 Sexual Politics
The Sphere of Sexual Politics: The Abortion Law Reform 77
Association, 1930s to 1960s
Stephen Brooke
5 LGB Equality
Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual NGOs in Britain: Past, Present 95
and Future
Matthew Waites
6 Human Rights
Human Rights Campaigns in Modern Britain 113
Tom Buchanan
7 Anti-Apartheid
The Anti-Apartheid Movement: Pressure Group Politics, 129
International Solidarity and Transnational Activism
Rob Skinner
v
vi Contents
8 Poverty
Stopping the Poor Getting Poorer: The Establishment 147
and Professionalisation of Poverty NGOs, 1945–95
Tanya Evans
9 Drugs
The Changing Role of NGOs in Britain: Voluntary Action 164
and Illegal Drugs
Alex Mold
10 Reactionaries
There Was Something About Mary: The National Viewers’ 182
and Listeners’ Association and Social Movement History
Lawrence Black
11 Environmentalism
Environmental NGOs and the Environmental Movement 201
in England
Christopher Rootes
12 Fair Trade
NGOs and Fair Trade: The Social Movement Behind 222
the Label
Matthew Anderson
13 NGOs and the State
Transforming a Divided Civil Society? Governance, 242
Conflict Transformation and NGOs in Northern Ireland,
1970–2006
Audra Mitchell
14 Democracy
NGOs and Democratisation: Assessing Variation in 261
the Internal Democratic Practices of NGOs
Darren Halpin
Index 281
List of Tables
1.1 Prominent NGOs, with year of formation 13
11.1 Leading British environmental NGOs (2005) 202
11.2 Membership of selected environmental NGOs 212
(1971–2006) (thousands)
14.1 What generalised type of advocacy is promised/possible? 270
14.2 Summary of expectations for group democratic practices 271
vii
Notes on Contributors
Matthew Anderson recently completed his PhD at the University of
Birmingham. He has published articles on the history of co-operation
and fair trade and is currently working on a book-length treatment of
the fair trade movement in Britain.
Caitriona Beaumont is Senior Lecturer in Social History at London
South Bank University. She is currently working on a new book
entitled Housewives and Citizens: Domesticity and the Women’s Movement
in England 1928–1964.
Lawrence Black is Senior Lecturer in modern British history at
Durham University. He works on the history of political culture and
has published on topics including TV, consumerism, party activism
and cultural politics in post-1945 Britain.
Stephen Brooke is Associate Professor of History, York University,
Toronto. He is the author of Labour’s War (1992), Sexual Politics:
Sexuality and the British Left, 1880s to the Present Day (forthcoming), and
articles in the American Historical Review, Past and Presentand Journal of
Social History.
Tom Buchanan is Reader in Modern History at the University of
Oxford Department for Continuing Education, and a Fellow of Kellogg
College. His publications include Britain and the Spanish Civil War
(1997), Europe’s Troubled Peace, 1945–2000(2005) and The Impact of the
Spanish Civil War on Britain: War, Loss and Memory (2006).
Jodi Burkettis a PhD candidate at York University, Canada. She is par-
ticularly interested in articulations of national identity within social
movements of the left. Her work compares ideas of Britishness within
organisations including CND, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the
National Union of Students and the Northern Ireland Civil Rights
Association.
Nick Crowson is Reader in Contemporary British History at the
University of Birmingham. His past research has concentrated on
viii
Notes on Contributors ix
aspects of British politics, particularly the Conservative party. His most
recent book is The Conservative Party and European Integration(2006).
Tanya Evansis a Research Fellow at Macquarie University, Sydney. She
was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Contemporary British History,
Institute of Historical Research from 2004–2008 where she worked on a
project ‘Unmarried Motherhood in England and Wales, 1918–1995’ led
by Pat Thane. Sinners? Scroungers? Saints? Unmarried Motherhood in
Modern England will be published in 2009.
Darren Halpin is Reader in the Department of Public Policy at The
Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. His research focusses on the
engagement of interest groups in the policy process and with the con-
tribution of groups to representation and democracy.
Matthew Hilton is Professor of Social History at the University of
Birmingham. He has published widely on the history of consumer
society and social activism. His most recent book is Prosperity for All:
Consumer Activism in an Era of Globalisation(2008).
James McKay is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of
Birmingham. He was awarded his PhD in 2006, on the topic of British
Labour party attitudes to European integration.
Audra Mitchell is a PhD candidate at the Queen’s University of
Belfast. She holds doctoral fellowships from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada and Queen’s University, and
is co-editing the forthcoming book Transformation and the Dynamics of
(Radical) Change: Insights from Political Theory and Philosophy.
Alex Mold is Lecturer in History at the Centre for History in Public
Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her publica-
tions include Heroin: The Treatment of Addiction in Twentieth Century
Britain (2008).
Christopher Rootesis Professor of Environmental Politics and Political
Sociology, University of Kent. He edits Environmental Politics and has
also edited: The Green Challenge: the Development of Green Parties in
Europe (1995); Environmental Movements: Local, National and Global
(1999); Environmental Protest in Western Europe (2003); and Acting
Locally: Local Environmental Mobilisations and Campaigns(2008).