Manufacturing civil society : principles, practices and effects / edited by Taco Brandsen, Professor of Comparative Public Administration, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, Willem Trommel, Professor of Public Policy and Governance, Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Bram Verschuere, Assistant Professor of Public Management, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Ghent, Belgium

Machine generated contents note:1. Manufacturing Civil Society: An Introduction -- 2. 'You're either with us or against us': Manufacturing Civility in the Netherlands -- 3. Diversity and Ambiguity in the English Third Sector: Responding to Contracts and Competition in Public Services Delivery -- 4. How Viable is the Big Society? Perceptions from Environmental NGOs in the UK -- 5. Civil Society Organisations as a Government Steering Mechanism: A Comparison between Sport Associations and Patient Organisations in the Netherlands -- 6. New forms of Dependency in Central and Eastern Europe? Reflections on the State-third Sector Relations in Public Service Provision in Post-Communist Countries -- 7. New challenges for the Cooperation between Civil Society and Public Sector - The Federal Volunteer Service in Germany -- 8. Public Governance of Welfare Services in Italy -- 9. The Autonomy of Organized Civil Society in Strategic Policy Decision Making: A Resource Dependence Perspective -- 10. Controlling or Empowering Non-Profit Organizations?: Dimensions of Accountability in Singapore -- 11. Active Citizenship: From Panacea to Political Program. In Search of an Appealing Narrative.

"Faced with declining social cohesion, more and more governments are trying to revitalise society by attempting to reconstruct local communities, civil society and citizenship. One way to do this is to share public responsibilities with organized citizens and third sector organisations. As a result, relationships with citizens, communities and third sector organisations are increasingly brought within the realm of public management, subject to accountability procedures, embedded in hierarchical structures, included in arenas for competition and contracting. This volume examines the emergence of this new type of governance, exploring the dynamics, effectiveness and appropriateness of this governmental response to the fragmentation of modern social life. "--