Governance and Regulation in the Third Sector

Governance and Regulation in the Third Sector brings together scholars and experienced practitioners from different countries to investigate the relationship between regulation and relational governance for the third sector in a comparative context. Each chapter reviews recent regulatory changes in the country in question. To what extent are there significant convergences in these reforms and what are the implications for the third sector? Is there any evidence that the foundational architecture for a more collaborative relationship between the state and the third sector has been laid?

Overall, the book reveals that the reality of the supposedly new collaborative relationships and the impacts of regulatory reform are quite different from what contemporary theories of public management would have us believe. Recognizing the gap between theory and reality, the chapters explore some of the outstanding challenges for regulatory reform for the third sector.

Susan Phillips is Professor and Director of the School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University. She is a Visiting Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, conducting research on women in leadership in the third sector. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy, Cass Business School, City University, where she is working on regulation of the sector.

Steven Rathgeb Smith is Professor and the Waldemar A. Nielsen Chair in Philanthropy at the Public Policy Institute at Georgetown University. Dr. Smith was the editor of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (NVSQ), the journal of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) from 1998-2004. His current research focuses on the citizen engagement and advocacy roles of nonprofit organizations, the evolving position of nonprofit social welfare organizations within the welfare state in Europe and the US, and the regional variation in foundations in the US.