Contemporary Issues in Global Civil Society Research

1. Contemporary Issues in Global Civil Society Research Brenda Gainer York University, Toronto and International Society for Third Sector Research

2. International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) • Founded in 1992 as an organization committed to • establishing a global community of scholars and institutions • dedicated to the Third Sector as a visible, valued and respected field of study and application • that contributes to international development and human well-being.

3. How do we do this? • We promote high quality research • We enhance the dissemination and applications of knowledge globally • Conferences (next international in Istanbul, July 2010) • Voluntas, a top-ranked international journal and working paper series

4. Global and Regional Research • Global research infrastructure continues to be concentrated in western and northern countries (journals, publishers, academic centres and graduate degree programs) • ISTR and Voluntas founded to develop cross-national and global research on civil society • Also a need for focused research agendas that reflect the particular preoccupations of specific regional contexts • ISTR regional networks and conferences in Latin America, Africa and Asia

5. Research Streams • Theorizing civil society • Practice 3. Social innovation

6. Theory: Definitions and Descriptions • American theory (70s and 80s): non-distribution constraint, public goods, contract failure • Followed by a period of definitions of structure and organization (Salamon and Anheier 1992) • Salamon and Anheier (1998) started to study the sector in cross-national terms (“social origins” theory) • Current: focus on other ways of defining the “nonprofit” sector in specific regions–for example, social economy in continental and especially Catholic Europe….solidarity economy in Latin America, or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Global South

7. 2. Theory:Boundary Issues • 1990s/2000s saw explosion of research on “boundaries”—specifically changing relationships between civil society and the state • Shift to study of changing relationships between civil society and corporations: CSR, partnerships, etc (loss of independence and control; erosion of role and responsibilities for advocacy, “downgrade” to service provision)

8. Theory:Role and Responsibilities • Early research: Failure of the market to provide collective goods and failure of the government to provide for minorities led to development of nonprofit organizations to provide both of these • Current: CSOs as a source of “social capital” (contributes to trust and stability--Putnam) or mobilization (contributes to social change--Edwards) • Current: post-national global civil society movements, new systems of global governance, global issues and policy debates 4. Global Governance and Citizenship

9. Practice:Management and Governance • Largest category in terms of papers and articles submitted by academics and practitioners around the world • Reflects preoccupation with the “accountability” agenda and with resource dependency • Social accounting small but hot—may grow or die • Governance research moving from an internal perspective to larger external concerns about inclusion, participation, representation, appropriation, etc. • Evaluation also responds to accountability to funders but increasingly research is being conducted on sector-wide “impact” studies

10. Practice:The New Philanthropy Agenda • One of the largest categories within the management literature (fundraising) • Behavioural research growing • Critical studies are growing • Social and cultural research agendas are growing with respect to current issues (diaspora, religio-politics, civic participation…)

11. 3. Practice:Corporate Social Responsibility • Outgrowth of corporate philanthropy, buyer-seller approach to civil society and the post-Reagan/Thatcher ideology of privatization • Research polarized between boosters and critics • The new “partnerships” are the subject of a great deal of this research • Also considered in terms of its contribution to the corporation’s role in global governance systems

12. Social Innovation: Is this “civil society?” • New trend to looking at ‘social value creation’ as the focus of research Current trends: • Focus on systems, processes and outcomes related to social value as opposed to specific organizational form that defines civil society • Social economy (traditionally seen as a specific “regional” variation of the dominant theoretical model) coming to be viewed as a more appropriate frame for research as it is based on a conceptualization of sector convergence and shared values as opposed to a narrower set of structural-operational features • New emergent forms: social enterprises (privately owned, for-profit), hybrid organizations, mutually-governed inter-sectoral partnerships, horizontal networks (Aids in Brazil), complexity theory (Dart, Zimmerman)

13. Summary: 2 Shifts • Shift to “post-empirical” theory (Taylor 2010) as researchers adopt a normative approach to social change and social justice • Shifting from “multi-national comparison” to “trans-national collaboration” in terms of setting the agenda for international and regional research