Set within the context of Europe, this book demonstrates the contribution that community development can make to strengthening civil society. The book interweaves case studies with discussion of community development principles and theory to provide a critical and accessible approach.

Combines solid research, observation, and practical experience that speak forcefully to the need for both local place-based development and greater citizen involvement.

Since its publication in 2004, Civil Society has become a standard work of reference for all those who seek to understand the role of voluntary citizen action in the contemporary world. In this thoroughly-revised edition, Michael Edwards updates the arguments and evidence presented in the original and adds major new material on issues such as civil society in Africa and the Middle East, global civil society, information technology and new forms of citizen organizing. He explains how in the future the pressures of state encroachment, resurgent individualism, and old and familiar forces of nationalism and fundamentalism in new clothes will test and re-shape the practice of citizen action in both positive and negative ways. Civil Society will help readers of all persuasions to navigate these choppy waters with greater understanding, insight and success. Colleges and universities, foundations and NGOs, public policy-makers, journalists and commissions of inquiry – all have used Edwards’s book to understand and strengthen the vital role that civil society can play in deepening democracy, re-building community, and addressing poverty, inequality and injustice. This new edition will be required reading for anyone who is interested in creating a better world through citizen action.

The concept of community development is often misunderstood, holding different meanings across different academic disciplines. Moreover, the concept of community development has been historically abstracted, not only in the way the concept has been conceptualized in academic studies, but also by the way in which practitioners use the term in the vernacular. Departing from traditional definitions of community development, this volume applies the New Public Service (NPS) perspective of Public Administration to community development to illustrate how public administrators and public managers can engage in community development planning and implementation that results in more equitable and sustainable long-term outcomes. This book will be of interest to practitioners and researchers in public administration/management, public administration theory, community development, economic development, urban sociology, urban politics, and urban planning.

Global news is generally bad news. On the surface, the story is about war, poverty, ethnic and sectarian strife. Democracy movements advanced by the U.S. government seem to be stalled or even reversed. Yet just below the surface, more hopeful trends are brewing. A new global awareness of the people at "the bottom of the pyramid" is summoning forth an unprecedented response to human need and suffering. It involves a shift from vertical to horizontal power that official aid agencies are only beginning to comprehend. Whereas twenty-five years ago, government aid accounted for 70 percent of all American outflows, today 85 percent of all outflows of resources come from private individuals, businesses, religious congregations, universities, and immigrant communities. If aid policy in the twentieth century relied on top-down bureaucracy dominated by policy specialists and elites, the twenty-first century is shaping up as an era in which citizens, social entrepreneurs, and volunteers link up to solve problems. U.S. military and economic power are basic components of America's presence in the world; but in an environment of rampant anti-Americanism, it is compassion that is America's most consequential export. Civil society, once the distinctive characteristic of American democracy, is now advancing across the globe, carrying with it new forms of philanthropy, citizenship, and volunteerism. Tens of thousands of voluntary associations are prying open closed societies from within, solving problems in new ways, and forming the seedbed for a long-term cultivation of democratic norms. Building Nations from the Bottom Up: The Global Rise of Democratic Society presents a sweeping overview of the forces now shaping the global debate, including citizen-led development projects, poverty-reduction strategies that substitute opportunity for charity, and electronically linked movements to combat corruption and autocratic rule.

Recently the topic of civil society has generated a wave of interest, and a wealth of new information. Until now no publication has attempted to organize and consolidate this knowledge. The International Encyclopedia of Civil Society fills this gap, establishing a common set of understandings and terminology, and an analytical starting point for future research. Global in scope and authoritative in content, the Encyclopedia offers succinct summaries of core concepts and theories; definitions of terms; biographical entries on important figures and organizational profiles. In addition, it serves as a reliable and up-to-date guide to additional sources of information. In sum, the Encyclopedia provides an overview of the contours of civil society, social capital, philanthropy and nonprofits across cultures and historical periods. For researchers in nonprofit and civil society studies, political science, economics, management and social enterprise, this is the most systematic appraisal of a rapidly growing field.

Noted NGO figures from around the world contributed to this volume about how NGOs contribute to the development of society. Included is a proposed code of ethics for NGOs. "Fear and Want. These two words summarize the sufferings of humankind across history. Endeavoring to free people from fear and want is both the most noble and the most difficult challenge that we face. To promote human security is an ambitious goal, but it is commensurate with the needs and aspirations of the twenty-first century." —François Fouinat, Executive Director, UN Commission on Human Security "An NGO should not enter into collaboration with a for-profit corporation if the main motivation of the corporation is to gain a market advantage over competitors."—WANGO Code of Ethics and Conduct for NGOs "The corporate community must accept that business is not merely charged to manage risk, or make sound investment decisions and attempt to cope with economic uncertainties. Those are the easier tasks. The corporate community needs to reflect on what it can do to bring about changes that will create a new ethical, and level playing field on which business can function place fairly and transparently, without corruption."—Tunku Abdul Aziz, Vice Chairman, Transparency International "In 1991 less than 10% of our projects had any input from NGOs. By the end of the 1990s, over half of Asian Development Bank (ADB) projects included NGO input."—Robert Dobias, Head, NGO Center, Asian Development Bank "NGOs that challenge existing political arrangements and challenge those government policies, which pose a threat to human security, can face serious repercussions from the implicated governments that are unwilling to hear public criticism of their actions. Some governments have sought to restrict the power of NGOs by creating legislation, which limits their sanctioned activity to the non-political arena."—Sarah Mich'l, Harvard University Global Equity Initiative This book is an introduction to the political economy of NGOs. Today NGOs are recognized as vital partners for government and industry. They address social and environmental problems with greater efficiency and cost effectiveness than government agencies. Multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and the World Bank increasingly rely on NGOs to assist in the oversight of the projects and programs that they support. This text reviews the historical evolution that has led to the mainstreaming of NGOs and, in some cases, to corruption, graft, and deviation from their founding principles. It also describes the challenges that NGOs face in less developed countries. While NGOs are applauded byinternational organizations and by the governments of developed countries, they still are viewed as a political threat in many developing countries where they are deliberately marginalized by legal constraints and bureaucracies that make their survival almost impossible.