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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Can NGOs challenge the power of capitalism?
The Marx Memorial Library considers the role of ‘civil society’ groups in agitation for change
Greenpeace activists march through central London in a protest aimed at oil giant BP

VOLUNTARY organisations, especially the larger ones known as “non-governmental organisations” (NGOs), are extremely varied. 

Their number and significance has grown during the development of capitalism to the degree that they are sometimes known collectively as the “third sector,” standing between private capital (manufacturing, property and finance) and the state (the military, police, infrastructure, education, the NHS and other services provided by national or local government).  

The term NGO excludes trades unions, employers’ associations and other “political” organisations, as well as not-for-profit companies.  NGOs today play a political role that hardly existed prior to the mid-1970s.  

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