Overview

In the public management reforms, a key element has been the inclusion of the third sector in public service provision. In countries where there are traditions of such involvement, new programmes for strengthening service provision and participation have resulted in new concepts and methods of integrating third sector organisations. In other countries, their visibility in public service provision has significantly increased since the early 1990s. This concerns such diverse policy fields as employment, child care, elderly care and urban renewal.

Cooperation can take the form of formal partnerships, of a principal-agent relationship in contracting out arrangements, agreements with third sector organisations as co-producers of public policies, or semi-formal networks of service providers and governments. Often different types of relationships exist within the same country and sometimes organisations combine different roles within themselves.

This variety of relationships also affects citizens. They are variously addressed as consumers, members of civic communities, active citizens and clients of professional services.

These empirical developments give rise to various interesting questions. For example, what are the roles and distinctive qualities of third sector organisations are in this new context? And if so, what are their strengths? Such strengths could, for instance, relate to service innovation, democratic participation or social cohesion. What new typed of interorganisational networks and partnerships are emerging? Do third sector – government partnerships have distinctive qualities as compared to government – business partnerships? Such questions are relevant not only to third sector research, but also to the general community of public management research.

For further information about the IRSPM Third Sector Special Interest Group, please contact: Taco Brandsen (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands)