Scenarios for Civil Society Impact in Norway

Abstract

Referring to Helmut Anheier’s outline of four scenarios for the status of German civil society in 2030, the chapter discusses how these scenarios play out in Norway, a different type of welfare state. The scenarios relate to different approaches to civil society and to theoretical perspectives on the roles that civil society organizations (CSOs) play in society as economic actors, as local community actors, as political actors, and as innovators and entrepreneurs. The voluntary sector played an important role in the development of the Norwegian welfare state, but recent decades have seen a radical change in the relationship between the state and the voluntary sector and simultaneously a growing role for the market in health and welfare services. The voluntary welfare sector has not been able to take on a new and expanding role as new political space has opened. But as to civil involvement, CSOs are strengthening their role in close cooperation with the public sector in Norway. CSOs are important at the community level for building social capital and social cohesion, but their role as political actors is weakening, and they can hardly be expected to act as innovators, although examples of innovations can be found.KeywordsCivil society organizationsScenarios for future roleWelfare stateNorway