European ISTR Regional Network

The Third Sector from a European Perspective
by Marilyn Taylor, Health & Social Policy Research Centre, University of Brighton, UK

In mid December 2001, 27 researchers from 17 countries across Europe met for a two day seminar in Trento to discuss European approaches to Third Sector research. The seminar followed a larger conference in Trento on "Social Enterprise: A Comparative Perspective." The idea of the seminar was that it would provide a foundation from which to organise a European conference on the Third Sector in 2003.

ISTR has held regional conferences in Africa, Asia, and Latin America but, since the last two international conferences were held in Europe – first Geneva and then Dublin – there has not been the same incentive to bring Third Sector researchers together in Europe. Also, there has been a feeling that the need for regional organisation is not so strong in Europe, where Third Sector research has more of a tradition and researchers are not so isolated. But, in reality, as this workshop demonstrated, there are many different paradigms in Europe and much to be gained from creating a dialogue between those different paradigms. The hope is that a 2003 conference, if we are successful in making it happen, will establish that dialogue and demonstrate the potential for greater understanding and debate between different research traditions and different countries. To that end the intention is that the conference will be jointly hosted by ISTR and EMES, a network whose research has focussed on l'economie sociale. The aim is also that the conference should provide particular opportunities for young researchers to present their research and establish networks.

In order to start this dialogue, the two-day seminar was organised around six papers, which discussed the contribution that different paradigms, traditions, or approaches make to Third Sector studies. The papers focused on:

• the welfare mix approach;
• the economics of the Third Sector;
• social movement analysis;
• citizenship, civil society and governance;
• the Third Sector and service quality; and
• the contribution a management perspective can make to the study of the Third Sector.

Clearly there are other paradigms or approaches that we could also have addressed, but time was limited.

Each paper had two discussants, one from Western Europe and one from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This provided an opportunity to explore the relevance of the approaches discussed in different settings and/or to challenge the analysis from a different perspective. A seventh paper explored the particular experience of transition in CEE countries and the relationship between the Third Sector and the processes of democratisation there. A final presentation focused on network theory and we finished with a response from the South' drawing the parallels between the discussions at this European seminar and debates in the development studies community.

The seminar gave us the opportunity to bring together disciplinary perspectives that are too rarely discussed in the same setting, but also to bring to the surface some of the tensions between different approaches. There was a debate over the need to develop a distinctive European paradigm on Third Sector research. Some felt this was needed to counterbalance the dominance of US approaches. Others agreed with the need to give a stronger profile to the issues that emerge in a European context, but argued that this should provide a foundation for dialogue and cross-fertilisation, rather than promoting a European paradigm at the expense of paradigms emerging from the US or elsewhere. Particularly important in the European context were concepts of mutuality and the social economy but at the same time, the seminar highlighted the diversity of approaches within Europe and, indeed, within parts of Europe – discussion on CEE countries demonstrated that there were also important differences here.

A recurrent theme was the need to focus on understanding processes, linkages and relationships across sectoral and organisational boundaries as much as within them, and to take a dynamic view of sectoral and organisational evolution. This was a particularly strong theme in both the paper on the economics of the Third Sector and the paper on social movements, as well as the presentation on network theory. But of course, the need for a dynamic approach was also highlighted in the discussion of transition in Central/Eastern Europe and of changing patterns of government/governance in other countries. Whether sector matters and how also emerged as a theme in the paper on service quality which emphasized the role of the Third Sector in the labour market and in the paper on management. Overall, there was a sense of studying a phenomenon which was not clearly bounded, but which nonetheless provided an important focus or space for studying the changing relationships and the shifting balances within society – political, social and economic.

It is our intention to publish the papers, at least on the ISTR website, probably also in hard copy. We will keep ISTR members informed on the progress of plans for the conference, which will aim to develop further the debate between different approaches that we began in Trento, and we would welcome any expression of interest in helping with these plans. We hope to know by the time of the Cape Town conference whether and when it will take place. For further information, contact by e- mail: marilyn.taylor@brighton.ac.uk