隨著國際社會議題的多樣與複雜，解決各種國際議題不再單靠各國政府，加上民間團體的行為者崛起，政府如何與其互動與合作，共同解決受援國長期發展的結構性問題，則顯得越來越重要。理論上，NGO與政府之間若能有清楚分工及相互接受其角色，應可以建立一種相互增強的關係。但實際觀察卻發現，由於NGO的理想性高，加上若經費自主，就容易與政府保持距離並保持警戒，故雙方在國際援助議題上未必形成協力關係，甚至可能產生對立。

    研究發現，以日本為例，影響該國NGO與政府協力或對立的因素乃是雙方著眼於公共性角度的差異。當NGO與政府透過補充或互補來維持合作關係時，提供服務與政策建言為主要功能；但當NGO與政府處於對立關係時，蒐集資訊、監督、建言與建立價值規範則為主要功能。不過，隨著日本政府援助目的與ODA政策的修正，NGO與政府或許因組織規模、資源不同，對受援國的援助方法仍有所差異，但雙方的目標上已較為趨近，故對立關係漸轉換成以互補或補充為主的協力關係。

With the diversity and complexity of international issues, resolving international issues no longer rely on individual government entity. As civil society raises, how government cooperates with the civil society to resolve long-term constructive international problems has become more and more important. Theoretically, should non-governmental organizations (NGO) and the government have clear work scope and accept their roles, a mutual enhanced relationship can be built. However, NGOs are ideal in reality. And with self-sustained budget, NGOs may maintain an alerted distance with the government. Therefore, they may not form a cooperative relationship on international aid issues, and may even be confrontative.

Study found that the main factor affecting cooperation or confrontation between NGOs and the government is the different public opinion. When the relationship is cooperative, it provides services and policy recommendations; if it is confrontative, the main purpose would be collecting information, supervision, advise, and forming values. Nevertheless, as Japan’s purpose of foreign aid and ODA policy have been revised, the objective of NGOs and the government on aid approaches has become similar, despite the differences on organization scale and resources. Therefore, the confrontative relationship has transformed to a complementarily cooperative one.