In sum, every NGO is itself a site for power-laced encounters, a
nexus of several other cooperating and competing actors, with complex
interests and agendas. Each NGO bridges and institutionalizes both cooperation and conflict among its own societal and political partners
in several countries, as part of routine NGOing. NGO politics is not a
pathology to be diagnosed and cured. Without latent agendas, there
are no partners; and without partners, there is no NGO. Moreover,
savvy and experienced NGO professionals already know this, and consider finessing these tensions to be one measure of their professionalism.
Social scientists are only slowly catching up.