Palgrave Studies in Third Sector Research

This open access book contributes to research on the ascendance of neoliberalism in Canada through the vantage point of professional fundraising in the 1990s and 2000s. Fifty high-ranking fundraisers from across Canada were interviewed through 2008 and 2009 about changes they had witnessed since starting their careers. Fundraising as an occupation was burgeoning in this period in response to the devolution of state responsibility across the major domains of nonprofit activity: education, health care, social services, the arts, recreation, overseas humanitarian activities, and environmental protection. Welfare state retrenchment left the nonprofit and voluntary sector competing for private sources of funding with the help of these newly hired expert staff. As fundraisers worked to instill a culture of philanthropy, while targeting the ultra-rich and advocating for tax-favourable treatment of major gifts, they became both products and promoters of the neoliberal political and cultural reconstruction of Canadian society.

This is an open access book.

This open access book introduces a groundbreaking concept - civil society elites - and serves as an essential resource for scholars, researchers and students interested in the complexities of power and influence within contemporary civil societies. Through a series of unique empirical studies, the authors offer a comprehensive examination of the individuals occupying the upper echelons of influential civil society organisations and movements. By delving into the factors that propel individuals into key positions and examining the connections between civil society leaders within and across sectors, the book offers insight into the mechanisms that shape access to powerful positions in civil societies. As a reflection of current debates on elites and populism, the book furthermore explores the expression and conceptualisation of counter-elite positions and criticism of civil society elites. With its original approach, the book serves as a catalyst for further research into inequalities, power structures and elites within civil societies.

This volume focusses on the interplay of civic engagement and institutionalised politics and its role in both the erosion and retrieval of intermediate capabilities and procedures. Rather than discussing democracy as a relationship between citizens as individual voters and state power, the book studies the relationship between citizens engaged in or through organisations, movements and networks in civil society, and their impact in the context of institutionalised politics, be that through representative institutions and political parties or participation in administrative governance. The aim of this volume is to renew the scholarly discussion on the prospects of liberal democracy by looking for opportunities to curb antagonisms and instead strengthen intermediary capabilities.

The book will therefore be of interest to students in relevant disciplines as political science, civil society research, sociology, and research on social movements.

Chapter 1 and Chapter 10 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link. springer. com.