Handbook on Third Sector Policy in Europe
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Handbook on Third Sector Policy in Europe

Multi-level Processes and Organized Civil Society

9781849802758 Edward Elgar Publishing
Edited by Jeremy Kendall, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR), University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
Publication Date: 2011 ISBN: 978 1 84980 275 8 Extent: 424 pp
While scholarship on the social, economic and political contributions of organisations existing between the market and the state has proliferated in recent years, no sustained attention has previously been paid to how such organisations are collectively treated by, and respond to, public policy. The expert contributors examine the policy environment for, and evolving policy treatment of, the third sector in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom from a comparative perspective. They also look at how the third sector relates to multi-level European policy processes, including the Open Method of Co-ordination, the Community Method, nationally-led ‘partnership’ approaches within an overall EU framework and the United Nations International Year of Volunteering; an initiative implemented in the EU but originating externally.

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Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
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This Handbook is the first attempt to systematically examine, empirically and analytically, the contours of the third sector policy process in the European Union (EU).

While scholarship on the social, economic and political contributions of organisations existing between the market and the state has proliferated in recent years, no sustained attention has previously been paid to how such organisations are collectively treated by, and respond to, public policy. The expert contributors examine the policy environment for, and evolving policy treatment of, the third sector in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom from a comparative perspective. They also look at how the third sector relates to multi-level European policy processes, including the Open Method of Co-ordination, the Community Method, nationally-led ‘partnership’ approaches within an overall EU framework and the United Nations International Year of Volunteering; an initiative implemented in the EU but originating externally.

Providing a rich and compelling examination of a crucially important aspect of policymaking, this unique Handbook will fill a major gap in the knowledge of both general policy analysts and specialists in third sector studies. Researchers and students in the overlapping fields of organised civil society, voluntary and third sector studies and the non-profit sector will also warmly welcome this important book.
Critical Acclaim
‘The book is an excellent example of the usefulness of comparative research. . . This is an excellent book which ought to be of widespread interest to the third sector research community, and not just those undertaking comparative national or EU level research. The quality of its policy analysis should also make it of interest to political scientists interested in the third sector but also more broadly to those interested in social policy making in Europe.’
– Peter Wells, Voluntary Sector Review

‘Take the European dimension of third sector policy seriously in the new millennium – that is the content and message of this important Handbook. It contains rich material, framed with a very useful and interesting conceptual framework. The case studies give a strong sense of what emerges from connections between EU-initiated multi-level programs and national contexts, the interaction of broad categories of drivers for third sector policy, and shapers of the associated policy environment. Inter alia, the Handbook shows convincingly that third sector European policy is not simply pre-determined by “Brussels” – but can develop productively from inside and outside EU structures.’
– Adalbert Evers, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany

‘This book will be a major resource for all those interested in the third sector policy environment in Europe. It is the product of extensive research collaboration, and Kendall has done an excellent job in bringing together the talents and knowledge of key researchers across the EU. There are detailed country based chapters and others exploring cross-cutting policy issues. Kendall brings these different perspectives together in overview chapters which explore, and explain, the developing European third sector policy landscape.’
– Peter Alcock, University of Birmingham, UK
Contributors
Contributors: A. Appel, S. Baglioni, T. Brandsen, I. Crowhurst, C. Dittrich, A. Ellis Paine, L. Fraisse, P. Frič, J. Kendall, C. Lange, O. Larsson, T. Montagut, M. Nordfeldt, L.-E. Olsson, E. Pavolini, M. Pellegrino, C. Ranci, B. Sittermann, F. Stallmann, W. van de Donk, C. Will, A. Zimmer
Contents
Contents:

PART I: INTRODUCTION AND NATIONAL POLICY SITUATIONS
1. Terra Incognita: Third Sectors and European Policy Processes
Jeremy Kendall

2. Germany: On the Social Policy Centrality of the Free Welfare Associations
Annette Zimmer, Anja Appel, Claudia Dittrich, Chris Lange, Birgit Sittermann, Freja Stallmann and Jeremy Kendall

3. The Third Sector and the Policy Process in France: The Centralized Horizontal Third Sector Community Faced with the Reconfiguration of the State-centred Republican Model
Laurent Fraisse

4. The UK: Ingredients in a Hyperactive Horizontal Policy Environment
Jeremy Kendall

5. The Third Sector and the Policy Process in Italy: Between Mutual
Accommodation and New Forms of (Blurred) Partnership
Costanzo Ranci, Mauro Pellegrino and Emmanuele Pavolini

6. The Third Sector and the Policy Process in Spain: The Emergence of a New Policy Player
Teresa Montagut

7. The Third Sector and the Policy Process in the Netherlands: A Study in Invisible Ink
Taco Brandsen and Wim van de Donk

8. Sweden: When Strong Third Sector Historical Roots Meet EU Policy Processes
Lars-Erik Olsson, Marie Nordfeldt, Ola Larsson and Jeremy Kendall

9. The Third Sector and the Policy Process in the Czech Republic: Self-Limiting Dynamics
Pavol Frič

PART II: MULTI-LEVEL POLICY CASES
10. The European Statute of Association: Why Still an Obscure but Contested Symbol in a Sea of Indifference and Scepticism?
Jeremy Kendall and Laurent Fraisse

11. European Social Fund Local Social Capital Pilots and Mainstreamed Global Grants: On the Troubled Trajectory of Third Sector Policy Transfer
Isabel Crowhurst and Jeremy Kendall

12. National Action Plans on Social Inclusion: Opportunities for the Third Sector?
Taco Brandsen, Emmanuele Pavolini, Costanzo Ranci, Birgit Sittermann and Annette Zimmer

13. The European Employment Strategy, Social Economy and Employment Policy: Coordination Failure and Neglect in the Face of Fragmentation and Complexity
Jeremy Kendall and Taco Brandsen

14. A New Settlement for Europe: Towards ‘Open, Transparent and Regular Dialogue with Representative Associations and Civil Society’?
Catherine Will and Jeremy Kendall

15. The United Nations’ International Year of Volunteers: A Significant
Non-EU Transnational Initiative for European Countries?
Angela Ellis Paine, Jeremy Kendall and Simone Baglioni

PART III: THE EU INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL AND CONCLUDING
OBSERVATIONS
16. The Third Sector and the Brussels Dimension: Trans-EU Governance Work in Progress
Jeremy Kendall, Catherine Will and Taco Brandsen

17. Concluding Observations: A Diverse and Evolving Third Sector Policy Landscape
Jeremy Kendall

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