Introduction to Minisymposium: Nonprofit Self-Regulation in Comparative Perspective-Themes and Debates

Abstract

Nonprofits are increasingly engaged in efforts to develop collective self-regulation systems. These efforts stem in part from of growing pressure on nonprofits to demonstrate accountability and transparency. In spite of the growth in such initiatives, however, little research examines self-regulation in a systematic way across settings, resulting in minimal accumulation of knowledge on the factors underlying the emergence, structure and effectiveness of self-regulation. This minisymposium addresses this gap by taking a comparative perspective on self-regulation initiatives in three regions: sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Europe. The introduction sets the stage for the three papers by providing a common framework and typology for understanding self-regulatory initiatives and outlining the theoretical frameworks applied in the empirical papers. The three papers that follow examine the commonalities and differences in the forms that emerge across these three regions.