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The 'Big Society', announced by the Cameron government in 2010, has changed the way we talk about the voluntary sector, charities, NGOs, civil society, or the third sector. The names might be different, but the accompanying debate remains the same. It revolves around a series of questions that have been discussed for decades: what is the relationship between the governmental and the non-governmental sectors? What is the overall contribution of voluntarism to society? How has it changed over time? Have citizens become more apathetic, and are they less likely to 'join' in? What motivates citizens to unite and work together in organisations? This volume will give the reader a greater and more informed historical consciousness of how the NGO sector has grown and influenced.

In May 2010, Britain's new Coalition government embarked on its journey to the Big Society. But how did we reach this point? Politicians and commentators have long bemoaned the supposed decline of civic life, fretting about its health and its future. In fact, the real story of voluntarism over the last hundred years has not been decline, but constant evolution and change. Whether we use the terms charity, philanthropy, civil society, non-governmental organisations, the third sector or the Big Society, voluntary endeavour is one of the most vibrant and dynamic areas of British public life. The senior, established and exciting new scholars featured in this collection show how the voluntary sector's role in society, and its relationship with the state, has constantly adapted to its surroundings. They have raised new agendas, tackled old problems in new ways, acted as alternatives to statutory provision and as catalysts for further government action. Voluntary groups have emerged out of citizens' concerns, independent of government and yet willing to work with politicians of all persuasions. By surveying the sheer extent and diversity of the sector since the start of the First World War, this volume demonstrates that voluntarism not only continues to thrive, but is also far larger than any political agenda that may be imposed upon it. -- Book Description Website

Introduction : the wealth of access -- The fear of fortune : the uneasy consumer in an age of affluence -- Cold war shoppers : consumerism as state project -- Poverty amid prosperity : consumer protest beyond the affluent west -- Consumers of the world unite : consumption and the new global order -- The all-consuming network : the politics of protest in an age of consumption -- Backlash : the corporate critique of consumerism -- Choose life: consumer rights versus human rights -- Shopping for justice : the freedom of free trade -- Conclusion : the poverty of choice

UK international aid and development organisations such as Oxfam, Save the Children and Christian Aid have become some of the most prominent NGOs in the world. Born out of the humanitarian response to crisis, they have subsequently become significant players in the global debate about long-term development. From advocating an alternative path to development in the 1960s and 1970s they have come to articulate a rights-based approach in the 1990s. For NGOs, this was a logical consequence of "scaling up" their activities. However, as this article demonstrates, it was the result of more complex processes which have gradually brought these ever larger organisations into the development mainstream.

This paper examines the consumer movement in Malaysia, especially the Consumers' Association of Penang and the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations. It traces their history from the late 1960s, through a period of rapid social and economic change associated with the New Economic Policy of the 1970s and 1980s. Partly because of the absence of other NGOs in Malaysia (due to government clampdowns on civil society), consumer groups were able to take a prominent position and to develop socio-political campaigns on behalf of the poor and the disadvantaged. This proved an inspiration to consumer organizing globally, especially in the developed world, but it is not clear that consumerism as a social movement can be sustained. Since the mid-1980s, other NGOs have emerged, eclipsing the influence of consumerism, and promoting a human rights agenda which has overtaken the politics of consumption as the dominant oppositional rhetoric of non-governmental groups.