While NGOs' role in advocacy and agendasetting is fairly widely accepted, their peacebuilding activities are more controversial and have come under increasing scrutiny--not least from the NGOs themselves. As the number of NGOs, and their role in conflict situations, has grown exponentially, they have found themselves increasingly strained to find an appropriate balance between competing demands for relief, development, human rights and peace work, and between their own roles and that of other international and national actors. In this important study, which is firmly grounded in seven case...