Urbanization and development: The emergence of international nongovernmental organizations amid declining states

Half of the world's population will live in cities by the early twenty-firs t century, and, of the ten most populated cities, nine will be in the devel oping world. Unfortunately, this is occurring at a time when national gover nments are increasingly unable to provide basic public services to growing populations. International nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) have drama tically increased their efforts in urban arms and in economic and social de velopment in general. Although sociologists have examined the causes and ef fects of Third World urbanization and development, they have not focused on the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in this process. We argue that inclusion of NGOs in the literature is necessary and even compatible with several current theories of development. We test the impact of INGOs o n three interrelated measures of urbanization and development: overurbaniza tion, economic growth, and access to safe water. The results show that INGO s slow overurbanization and promote economic and social development.