Abstract
This contribution about the Netherlands to the special issue [or: section] on volunteering and civic action focuses on changes in public understanding and policy perspectives. Developments since the second half of the nineteenth century show shifting emphases on active membership (based on associational life and typical of the phenomenon of ‘pillarization’), active citizenship (based more on an individual sense of responsibility and more or less political in nature) and unpaid work (volunteering as a gift to society and other people). Government policy over the last two decades has focused heavily on ‘reponsibilization’ of citizens, both as regards providing help to others when they need it (unpaid work/informal care) and in terms of their relationship with the society in which they live (active citizenship). We expand further on the recent notion of the ‘do-democracy’ as a populist and anti-political way of doing things together on a small scale instead of engaging in democratic controversies and trying to get a grip on big issues.
Highlights
Framing Popular EngagementThe aim of this paper is to help in understanding the development of dominant views on voluntary civic or social and political involvement in the Netherlands, and in particular the recent focus by Dutch politicians and advocates of active citizenship on the concept of ‘do-democracy’
This contribution about the Netherlands to the special issue [or: section] on volunteering and civic action focuses on changes in public understanding and policy perspectives
The aim of this paper is to help in understanding the development of dominant views on voluntary civic or social and political involvement1 in the Netherlands, and in particular the recent focus by Dutch politicians and advocates of active citizenship on the concept of ‘do-democracy’
Summary
The aim of this paper is to help in understanding the development of dominant views on voluntary civic or social and political involvement in the Netherlands, and in particular the recent focus by Dutch politicians and advocates of active citizenship on the concept of ‘do-democracy’. Deregulation meant the end of the non-profit monopoly in certain areas and gave newcomers the opportunity to enter domains previously dominated by monopolistic non-profits Besides these shifts between the types of organizations delivering the services of the welfare state, recent decades have shown a growing emphasis on the need to reduce publicly funded professional services by encouraging pure private arrangements, calls for more ‘self-responsibility’ and urging people to seek more support from their own informal networks, and revitalizing old forms of mutual help and encouraging new ones. There was a movement making things more ‘political’ (the personal is political, lifestyle politics), on the secular left, and among churchgoing religious people: the Third World, the environment and nuclear weapons were issues for social and political action, for changing individual behaviour, for community activities and protests Besides this area of new politics, but sometimes related to it, were attempts to democratize official politics and formal institutions by introducing consultation procedures in policymaking and giving a say to clients of welfare state services. This means taking responsibility according to one’s own ability in a self-reliant way and with as much choice as possible: to be aware of the costs of services; care for fellow citizens; participation in civil associations and volunteering.’’
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