Civil society, the Third Sector, Social enterprise: Governance and Democracy

This panel is related to the publication by Routledge in April 2015 of a book called: "Civil society, the Third Sector, Social enterprise: Governance and Democracy » and edited by Jean Louis Laville, Dennis Young and Philippe... [ view full abstract ]

This panel is related to the publication by Routledge in April 2015 of a book called: "Civil society, the Third Sector, Social enterprise: Governance and Democracy » and edited by Jean Louis Laville, Dennis Young and Philippe Eynaud.

If the 20th century was only focused on the complementarity and the opposition of market and state, the 21st century has now to deal with the prominence of the third sector, the emergence of social enterprises and other solidarity hybrid forms. The concept of civil society organisations (CSOs) spans this diversity and addresses this new complexity.

The first part of the book highlights the organizational dimensions of CSO and analyses the growing role of management models and their limits. Too often, the study of CSO governance has been centered on the role of the board and has not sufficiently taken into account the different types of accountability environments. Thus, the conversation about CSO governance rises to the level of networks rather than simple organizations per se, and the role of these networks in setting the agenda in a democratic society.

In this perspective, the second part emphasizes the institutional dimensions of CSO governance by opening new avenues on democracy. First, the work of Ostrom about governing the commons provides us new insights to think community self-governance. Second, the work of Habermas and Fraser opens the question of deliberative governance and the role of public sphere to enlarge our vision of CSO governance. Third, the concepts of substantive rationality and economy proposed respectively by Ramos and Polanyi reframe the context in which the question can be addressed. Lastly, this book argues for a stronger intercultural approach useful for the renewal of paradigms in CSOs research.

This panel has for objective to present a unique collective work in bringing together thirty three authors coming from eleven countries to share perpectives on civil society governance and will be of interest to an international audience of researchers and policy-makers.

Expected Authors:

C. Borzaga and S. Depedri: Multi-stakeholder governance in Civil society organizations: model and outcomes

B. Enjolras, K. Steen Johnsen: Democratic governance and citizenship

L. Hulgard: Differing perspectives on Civil society and the State

C. J. Koliba: Civil society organization accountability within governance networks

M. Nyssens and F. Petrella: The Social and Solidarity Economy and Ostrom’s approach to common pool resources: Towards a better understanding of institutional diversity?