Suchergebnisse

This paper is based on an address given at the Oz Child Annual General Meeting on 7 December 1998 in Dandenong, Victoria.

Harry Eckstein's Theory of Stable Democracy briefly revolutionized thinking about authority structures in nongovernmental organizations but has left little lasting mark. Indeed, the theory failed as an account of stable democracy but, by emphasizing correctly the commonalities between public and private authority, it pointed the way to a general theory of authority in organizations. Such a theory is now emerging, chiefly from work on authority in capitalist firms. It is time for students of politics again to look beyond the state, as Eckstein argued, to the much wider universe of authority relations.

English
This article explores how recent changes in public policies have been experienced by the governing boards of voluntary agencies. It looks at impacts on the way boards perform their main functions and examines how board members perceive changes in social welfare policy such as moves towards contracting, competition and community care. Public policy implementation processes are perceived as problematic when they threaten the essentially voluntary and independent nature of the board role. Thus over-zealous direction, control or monitoring of voluntary agencies' boards may have the perverse effect of discouraging the impulse to be an 'active citizen'.