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The Swiss Civil Society Sector in a Comparative Perspective
Helmig, Bernd
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Gmür, Markus
;
Bärlocher, Christoph
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Schnurbein, Georg von
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Degen, Bernard
;
Nollert, Michael
;
Budowski, Monica
;
Sokolowski, S. Wojciech
;
Salamon, Lester M.
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URL:
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https://edoc.unibas.ch/23906/1/20160125172422_56a6...
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Weitere URL:
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http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A5843647
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Dokumenttyp:
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Buch
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Erscheinungsjahr:
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2011
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Titel einer Zeitschrift oder einer Reihe:
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VMI research series
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Band/Volume:
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6
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Ort der Veröffentlichung:
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Fribourg
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Verlag:
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Univ., Inst. for Research on Management of Associations, Foundations and Cooperatives (VMI)
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ISBN:
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3-909437-29-X
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Sprache der Veröffentlichung:
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Englisch
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Einrichtung:
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Fakultät für Betriebswirtschaftslehre > ABWL, Public & Non Profit Management (Helmig 2008-)
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Fachgebiet:
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330 Wirtschaft
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Abstract:
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Switzerland has a strong nonprofit sector, with a long historical tradition and of high
importance to the Swiss society.
Elements such as independence, individual responsibility and self-help are social
cornerstones which are deeply rooted in the mind of the Swiss population and have
thus shaped Switzerland‟s entire social system. Over the centuries, these factors have
led to the development of a large and significant civil society sector alongside the
state (Helmig et al., 2009). The term “civil society sector” encompasses all nonprofit
organizations (NPOs) existing between state and private firms, which are, in
principle, sustained by private parties and do not pursue profit oriented goals
(Etzioni, 1973; Levitt, 1973). Therefore, the civil society sector (or third sector) is
best described as a complement to the two social constructs “state” and “economy”.
NPOs point at the weaknesses in both state and economy, that consist of strong
tendencies to rigid bureaucracy and the exclusive focus on profit maximization,
respectively (Hansmann, 1980; Weisbrod, 1988). Meanwhile, in their way of
functioning, they try to combine the strengths of the state and economy, which could
be subsumed under predictability and public control on one side, and under flexibility
and efficiency on the other (Seibel, 1990).
To date, only a few details about the exact contribution of the NPOs to the total
economic output of Switzerland are known. To some extent, this can be explained by
the heterogeneous structure of the NPOs that constitute the Swiss civil society. This
heterogeneous structure is visible not only in the difference in sheer size between
large economic associations and small environmentalist groups, but also in the large
scope of activities NPOs conduct, ranging from sports to advocacy to humanitarian
aid abroad (Lichtsteiner et al., 2008). Because of this heterogeneity the civil society
sector is seldom considered a separate sector as such.
This working paper aims at narrowing down the term civil society sector in
quantitative and qualitative terms, especially by discriminating between NPOs and
organizations of the for-profit economic sector. The following chapter provides
detail on the project‟s objectives, the approach to gathering and analyzing data, and
the way in which NPOs have been defined for the purpose of this project. As a basis
for this work, we used the guidelines of the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit
Sector Project (CNP) that has been dealing with the comparative study of this sector
since the early 1990s. The research project sought to document the Swiss NPOs
quantitatively, following the methodological guidelines spelled out in the United
Nations Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions in the System of National Accounts
(United Nations, 2003) and to compare the Swiss findings to those from other
countries surveyed by the CNP. It also seeks to describe the Swiss nonprofit sector
qualitatively by putting this set of institutions into historical and political context. As
a result the study provides the first comprehensive empirical overview of the
nonprofit sector in Switzerland enabling the systematic comparison of the Swiss
results to those from other countries. These major empirical findings about the scope
and scale of Switzerland‟s civil society sector will be summarized in Chapter 2.
Furthermore this chapter examines the comparisons of the Swiss findings to those of
the over 40 countries on which comparable data is available.
Introduction
IV
Chapter 3 draws the key historical factors that shaped the development of NPOs in
Switzerland. Chapter 4 addresses the key issues the sector is presently confronted
with, particularly in terms of the impact of government policy. Finally, Chapter 5
discusses some conclusions from the findings presented here and outlines their
implications for public policy, NPOs, and research.
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 | Dieser Eintrag ist Teil der Universitätsbibliographie. |
 Suche Autoren in
BASE:
Helmig, Bernd
;
Gmür, Markus
;
Bärlocher, Christoph
;
Schnurbein, Georg von
;
Degen, Bernard
;
Nollert, Michael
;
Budowski, Monica
;
Sokolowski, S. Wojciech
;
Salamon, Lester M.
Google Scholar:
Helmig, Bernd
;
Gmür, Markus
;
Bärlocher, Christoph
;
Schnurbein, Georg von
;
Degen, Bernard
;
Nollert, Michael
;
Budowski, Monica
;
Sokolowski, S. Wojciech
;
Salamon, Lester M.
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