Welfare State Reform, compacts and restructuring relations between the state and the voluntary sector: reflections on Northern Ireland experience

TY - JOUR

T1 - Welfare State Reform, compacts and restructuring relations between the state and the voluntary sector: reflections on Northern Ireland experience

AU - Acheson, Nicholas

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PY - 2010/7/1

Y1 - 2010/7/1

N2 - Policies that address the role and function of voluntary organisations horizontally across different government fields have been a feature of reforms in several welfare states to varying degrees since the end of the 1990s. This paper argues that the UK compact and its associated implementation measures have constituted a discourse that has enabled the state to radically reconstitute the role of the voluntary sector while holding out an unfulfilled promise of a broader shared understanding of the sector’s role in society. Drawing on an analysis of policy development in Northern Ireland, the paper shows how well-developed horizontal policy structures have served to redefine and narrow the field of engagement between the sector and government.

AB - Policies that address the role and function of voluntary organisations horizontally across different government fields have been a feature of reforms in several welfare states to varying degrees since the end of the 1990s. This paper argues that the UK compact and its associated implementation measures have constituted a discourse that has enabled the state to radically reconstitute the role of the voluntary sector while holding out an unfulfilled promise of a broader shared understanding of the sector’s role in society. Drawing on an analysis of policy development in Northern Ireland, the paper shows how well-developed horizontal policy structures have served to redefine and narrow the field of engagement between the sector and government.

U2 - 10.1332/204080510X511238

DO - 10.1332/204080510X511238

M3 - Article

VL - 1

SP - 175

EP - 192

JO - Voluntary Sector Review

T2 - Voluntary Sector Review

JF - Voluntary Sector Review

SN - 2040-8056

IS - 2

ER -