Unit 7
Civic Society, Partnerships, and the Third Sector

Introduction

Unit 7 addresses the question of the changing role of the non-profit or third sector in Canada and the sector’s place within a restructured governance framework. For decades, policy-makers, the media, and the academic community largely ignored the contribution of the third sector to the social and economic health of society, focusing instead on the private and public sectors. Shifting political winds have changed this scenario dramatically. “Civil society” (of which the third sector is a key component) has been championed in many quarters as offering a solution to many challenges, including the problem of so-called “government failure.” Today, the concepts of the third sector and civil society are seen as the “big ideas” (Edwards 2004, 2). The movement to reinvent government through, among other processes, shrinking the state, entering into private-public partnerships, and offering ever more public services through ASD mechanisms, has pushed to the fore the question of an enhanced place for non-profit organizations in the lives of our communities. Civil society organizations are doing more of the work for which governments once took responsibility. This unit examines the nature of the changing relations between the state and civil society (third sector) and their implications for governance.

Learning Objectives

When you have completed Unit 7, you should be able to achieve the following learning objectives.

  1. Explain what is meant by the non-profit sector or third sector
  2. Elucidate the importance and contribution of the third sector to the Canadian economy and society
  3. Explain how the non-profit sector has been affected by “the reinvention of the welfare state”
  4. Identify the shifting relations between non-profit service providers and the state over time
  5. Explain what government partnership with non profit organizations means in the period of neo-liberal governance
  6. Define alternative service delivery (ASD)
  7. Describe contract financing and identify why the dominance of this type of funding for non-profit service providers is said to constitute a new funding regime
  8. Explore the meaning of accountability and efficiency in relation to the role of non-profit organizations in service delivery
  9. Describe the impact of neo-liberal restructuring on civil society and the Keynesian welfare state
  10. Identify how the realignment within the non-profit sector brought about by neo-liberal restructuring has altered the role that non-profit advocacy plays within democratic governance
  11. Explain the concepts of “free enterprise foundations” and “corporate social responsibility”
  12. Outline the challenges that aspects of civil society are posing to neo-liberal governance models and assess how effective they have been in bringing about change