Barriers to the impact of the third sector and the role of public management: evidence from The Netherlands

Contemporary governments aim to shift responsibility for public service delivery to the third sector. The latter is expected to improve the effectiveness and democratic legitimacy of services. This seems to imply that its... [ view full abstract ]

Contemporary governments aim to shift responsibility for public service delivery to the third sector. The latter is expected to improve the effectiveness and democratic legitimacy of services. This seems to imply that its activities must be redirected towards the policy objectives of government (an echo of what was happening under New Public Management). Yet third sector organisations face considerable barriers to achieving the impacts desired from them – legal, organisational, cultural. Ironically, governments are also the drivers behind many of these barriers. The paper analyses the enabling and disabling factors facing third sector organisations in The Netherlands, showing the crucial and ambiguous role of public management. It describes results of the Third Sector Impact project (2014-2017), a project under the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme that brings together ten universities and the EMES Research Network. The analysis is based on an online survey, semi-structured interviews and an analysis of relevant documents.