US Conservatives Take Aim at NGOs

According to Jim Lobe, a recent high-powered meeting of critics of NGOs expressed concerns that, "unlike corporations and governments, they are largely unregulated, and their internal processes often lack transparency and accountability."

To the more conservative critics, however, "international NGOs raise concerns that go far beyond transparency and accountability. To them, the international NGOs are pursuing a leftist or 'liberal' agenda that favors 'global governance' and other notions that are also promoted by the United Nations and other multilateral agencies."

In response, big whigs at the American Enterprise Institute will be launching a new initiative -- www.ngowatch.org -- to track the operations, funding sources and political agendas of the more pominent NGOs.