Abstract
Both the private for-profit and the non-profit (or ‘third’) sectors provide what economists call public goods. The division of labour between these sectors, however, differs substantially across countries in terms of both qualitative and quantitative dimensions. Such cross-national differences are illustrated in the present paper with respect to France and West Germany. The autonomy of the state, the nature of the dominant actors and their style of interaction are identified as crucial variables shaping the linkage patterns of government/third-sector relationship. The cross-national comparison allows for the hypothesis that different patterns of government/third-sector linkages also shape different degrees of institutional adaptiveness in a changing political and economic environment.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Anheier, H.K. (1990) A profile of the third sector in West Germany, in H. Anheier and W. Seibel (eds)The Third Sector: Nonprofit Organizations in Comparative and International Perspectives, De Gruyter, Berlin and New York (forthcoming).
H.K. Anheier and Seibel, W. (eds) (1990)The Third Sector: Nonprofit Organizations in Comparative and International Perspectives, De Gruyter, Berlin and New York (forthcoming).
Archambault, E. (1985) Les associations en chiffre,Revuedes Etudes Coopératives, 10–50.
Archambault, E. (1990) Public authorities and the nonprofit sector in France, in H. Anheier and W. Seibel (eds) —op. cit.
Ashford, D.E. (1986)The Emergence of the Welfare States, Basil Blackwell, Oxford and New York.
Birnbaum, P. (1982)La Logique de l'Etat, Fayard, Paris.
Debbasch, C. and Bourdon, J. (1987)Les Associations, Paris.
Deutscher Bundestag (1987) Drucksache 10/6779, 1 July, Beschlußempfehlung und Bericht des 3. Untersuchungsausschusses Neue Heimat.
Dyson, K. (1982) West Germany: the search for a rationalist consensus, in J. Richardson (ed.)Policy Styles in Western Europe, George Allen and Unwin, London.
Etzioni, A. (1973) The third sector and domestic missions,Public Administration Review, 314–23.
Goetschy, J. (1987) The neo-corporatist issue in France, in I. Scholten (.)Political Stability and Neo-Corporatism: Corporatist Integration and Societal Cleavages in Western Europe, Sage, London and Beverly Hills.
Gremion, P. (1974)Le Pouvoir Péripherique: Bureaucrates et Notables dans le Système Politique Français, Seuil, Paris.
Granovetter, M. (1985) Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness,American Journal of Sociology, 91, 481–510.
Heran, F. (1988) Unmonde selectif: les associations,Economie et Statistique, 208, 17–31.
IGAS (Inspection Générale des Affaires Sociales) (1984)La Politique Sociale et les Associations, La Documentation Française, Paris.
Katzenstein, P. (1987)Politics and Policy in West Germany: The Growth of a Semi-Sovereign State, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
Lehmbruch, G. (1984) Concertation and the structure of neo-corporatist networks, in J.H. Goldthorpe (ed.)Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Levitt, Th. (1973)The Third Sector: New Tactics for a Responsive Society, New York.
Lloyd, P.C. (1990) The relationship between voluntary associations and state agencies in the provision of social services at the local level, in H. Anheier and W. Seibel (eds) —op. cit.
Marchal, E. (1986) La participation des associations au programme des Travaux d'Utilité Collective, Enquête, presented tol'Association pour le Développement de la Documentation sur l'Economie Sociale (ADDES), 17 June (mimeo).
Mayntz, R. (1986) Corporate actors in public policy: changing perspectives in political analysis,Norsk Statsvitenskapeling Tidsskrift 3, 7–25.
Meny, Y. (1985) La légitimation des groupes d'intérêt par l'administration française,Rapport pour le Congrès International de Science Politique, Paris, July (mimeo).
Meyer, M. and Zucker, L. (1989)Permanently Failing Organizations, Sage, London and Beverly Hills.
Middleton, M. (1987) Nonprofit boards of directors: beyond the governance function, in W.W. Powell (ed.)The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, Yale University Press, New Haven.
Mueller, F. (1965)Korporation und Assoziation. Zur Geschichte der Vereinigungsfreiheit im deutschen Vormärz, Duncker and Humbolt, Berlin.
Nordlinger, E. (1981)On the Autonomy of the Democratic State, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Ouchi, W. (1980) Markets, bureaucracies, and clans,Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 129–41.
Palard, J. (1981) Le mouvement associatif et le système politique local en France. Discours et pratiques,Sociologica Internationalis, 19, 213–32.
Passaris, S.G. and Raffi, G. (1984)Les Associations, Paris.
Powell, W.W. (ed.) (1987)The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, Yale University Press, New Haven.
Powell, W.W. and Friedkin, R. (1987) Organizational change in nonprofit organizations, in W.W. Powell (ed.) —op. cit.
Richardson, J. (ed.) (1982)Policy Styles in Western Europe, George Allen and Unwin, London.
Rose-Ackerman, S. (ed.) (1986)The Economics of Nonprofit Institutions: Studies in Structure and Policy, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford.
Salamon, L.M. (1987) Partners in public service: the scope and theory of government-nonprofit relations, in W.W. Powell (ed.) —op. cit.
Salamon, L.M. (1990) The nonprofit sector and government: the American experience in theory and practice, in H. Anheier and W. Seibel (eds) —op. cit.
Skocpol, Th. (1985) Bringing the State back in: strategies of analysis in current research, in P. Evans, D. Rueschemeyer and Th. Skocpol (eds)Bringing the State Back In, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York.
Seibel, W. (1989) The function of mellow weakness: nonprofit organizations as problem non-solvers in Germany, in Estelle James (ed.)The Nonprofit Sector: Studies in Comparative Culture and Policy, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford.
Seibel, W. (1990) Organizational behavior and organizational function: toward a micro-macro theory of the third sector, in H. Anheier and W. Seibel (eds) —op. cit.
Suleiman, E.N. (1974)Politics, Power and Bureaucracy in France: The Administrative Elite, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Suleiman, E.N. (1987)Private Power and Centralization in France: The Notaires and the State, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Thery, H. (1986) La place et le rôle du secteur associatif dans le développement de la politique d'action educative, santiaire et sociale. Rapport presenté au nom du Conseil économique et social,Journal Officiel de la République Française, Avis et Rapports du Conseil économique et social, 29 July.
Weisbrod, B. (1988)The Nonprofit Economy, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. and London.
Wildavsky, A. (1987) Choosing preferences by constructing institutions: a cultural theory of preference formation,American Political Science Review, 81, 3–21.
Wurzbacher, G. (1971) Die öffentliche freie Vereinigung als Faktor soziokulturellen, insbesondere emanzipatorischen Wandels im 19. Jahrhundert, in W. Rueegg and O. Neuloh (eds)Zur soziologischen Theorie und Analyse des 19. Jahrhunderts, Vandenhoeck und Rupprecht, Göttingen.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Seibel, W. Government/third-sector relationship in a comparative perspective: the cases of France and West Germany. Voluntas 1, 42–60 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01398491
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01398491