What does it mean to engage with the state? a comparative case study of two non-government organisations working with marginalised young people.

Abstract

This thesis is centrally concerned with the question of how non-government organisations (NGOs) can support marginalised young people and the role the state plays in facilitating this. It utilises a comparative case study methodology and examines the circumstances of two NGOs, Twenty10: Gay and Lesbian Youth Support, located in Sydney, Australia and the Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT) which is located in both London and Manchester in the United Kingdom. Twenty10 and AKT share a similar client base: both work with gay, lesbian, bisexual and/or transgendered (GLBT) young people experiencing homelessness or in a housing crisis. Both also engage in advocacy and service provision. At the time of my fieldwork Twenty10 and AKT differed in two key respects. First, AKT operated in a political context that was significantly more open to NGO advocacy than was the case for Twenty10. Second, AKT was supported almost entirely by the work of volunteers and through philanthropic support, whereas Twenty10 received the bulk of its funding from government. These differing factors allow a consideration of how the varying nature of an NGO s relationship with the state impacts upon their activities within varying political contexts.

The theoretical frameworks drawn upon in this thesis are those of citizenship theory and queer theory. Citizenship theory is particularly useful in analysing the objectives of Twenty10 and AKT, which focus on redressing the distributive and recognition based needs of their young people. The strategies employed by these organisations are also both subsumed within the normative framework of citizenship theory while nonetheless being dependent upon how closely each engages with the state. These case studies are situated against the queer critique of citizenship discourses, which emphasise its normalising and de-politicising consequences. As such, this thesis evaluates critiques of forms of activism that involve citizenship-focused issues and engagement with the state, and hence examines the effect a relationship with the state can have upon an NGO s work.