The dynamics of local responsibility sharing: Engagement-promoting organizations and structures in Germany

Abstract

The opportunities to engage locally are diverse and the organizations and structures are correspondingly heterogeneous. The organizations differ in their function and logic of action from the areas of state, market and family and are part of “organized civil society”. What connects them is that they involve engagement as a resource in their provision of services; however, resources such as voluntary engagement are scarce, which leads to a competitive situation between the organizations. For non-profit organizations, engagement can serve as a competitive advantage over the private sector and basis for legitimating its functions with respect to local policies. At the same time, municipalities themselves have been increasingly creating tools and structures to promote engagement. For citizens and organizations, engagement goes hand in hand with the assumption of self­responsibility and the willingness to self­organize.

The network function of civil society organizations in times of the COVID-19 pandemic – or how engagement as a practice of solidarity becomes market-relevant

“…Both organized civil society itself and the fields of action in which citizens engage locally are heterogeneous and multi-faceted." (Kuhnt, 2019, 157) The systematic survey and analysis of the modes of engagement promotion through various actors in organized civil society and their political-administrative framework for promoting engagement is in its initial stages and there are still research desiderata (Kuhnt, 2018;Kuhnt, 2019;Backhaus-Maul et al, 2015, 610 f.). While Backhaus-Maul et al (2015, 456) developed a typology for the ideas of engagement and its promotion through actors in welfare organizations, there are very few comparable current analyses and findings in the German discourse concerning how engagement in other organizations is encouraged and integrated into the provision of services.…”