Abstract This issue of Nonprofit Policy Forum is our first special issue and it is led by an editorial team of our partners in Sweden – Marta Reuter, Filip Wijkstrom and Johan von Essen. The issue analyzes a development of growing worldwide interest – the emergence and evolution of formal...

Abstract As the articles in this special issue demonstrate, the emergence of government-voluntary sector compacts around the world is intimately linked to comprehensive transformations the welfare state is undergoing in many countries. The fact that the first compact was developed in England is...

Abstract Spontaneous volunteer participation has developed rapidly over the past decade, though compulsory volunteer participation through top-to-bottom, government-based organizations is still prevalent among Chinese citizens. Drawing on a case study of Jinan, a city in China, this study...

Abstract South Africa has one of the most active civil societies in the world, with more than 85,000 registered civil society organizations (CSOs). However, the growth of CSOs in post-apartheid South Africa does not necessarily imply that the sector is strong. While it is true that the demise of...

Abstract The state of civil society in post-socialist Russia and other former socialist countries is of great interest to social scientists, policy makers, and development-oriented practitioners. Numerous theoretical assumptions and methodological approaches have been used by researchers to...

Abstract This paper conceptualizes challenges and dangers that have impacted Hungary’s civil society (third sector, nonprofit sector, voluntary sector) over the past decade. The cases presented illustrate the fragility of both the civil sector and its underlying democracy in Hungary. The...

Abstract The article aims to describe and analyze the main processes of policy initiatives towards the nonprofit sector in Israel since 2000, and their implications for the nonprofit sector and civil society. The process started with a review of policies regarding the sector, its roles and...

Abstract Under the Hu-Wen administration, scholars analyzed how political opportunity structures (POS) affect the policy influence of NPOs in China, and found that the opportunity structure was relatively more open, especially for NPOs using personal connections. In this article, we focus on...

Abstract Recent decades have seen a major political shift in many nations, manifested in democratic regression, rise of populist non-liberal democracies, resurgence of extreme right, infractions against democratic watchdogs, and increasing nationalism and unilateralism. A central manifestation...

Abstract This paper describes and analyses the response of UK civil society in the early months of the Covid-19 crisis, roughly the period March to July 2020. While focussing primarily on civil society actors, the paper includes an exploration of how civil society and the national government...