The importance of civil society for local communities in rural areas

• In Event: Understanding Volunteering and Civil Society in Communities

Abstract

In recent decades, centralization and urbanization of welfare services, citizens and private industries have taken place in many countries. Among the consequences of this development are the closure of workplaces, grocery stores and public institutions in rural communities, which is increasingly inhabited by the elderly and a declining number of children and teenagers. In the discussions about how rural communities can 'survive', it is argued that civil society can counteract this decline. This falls into a general interest in how civil society via co-production with public authorities can contribute to solving a number of challenges in recent times, for which the public sector - especially in the universal welfare states - has primarily been responsible (Evers, 2005; Ibsen, 2021). To shed light on the possible role of civil society, our research question is:
How and to what extent does civil society contribute to development of local communities in rural areas, and which conditions influence the role of civil society?
By civil society we understand both voluntary associations and more informal forms of social, political, and cultural activities in the public sphere (Boje 2017:44).
A survey was carried out in four rural municipalities in Denmark of associations (response from 46% of 1415 associations), a survey of a representative sample of adult citizens (response from 23% of 27,126 citizens) as well as 40 qualitative interviews of citizens from eight local communities.
The analysis uses neo-institutional theory, which assumes that the context of actors enables and limits actions, i.e., rules, norms, culture, and history. Inspired by Scott (1995, 2013) and Peters (2012) we distinguish between three pillars (‘institutions’) which has an impact on the role of civil society in the development of local communities: A regulative, a normative, and a cognitive / historical pillar.
The study shows, on the one hand, that civil society has to a small extent been able to 'slow down' the development towards a falling and an aging population and closures of public institutions, workplaces, and grocery stores. On the other hand, the study also shows that civil society and citizens are interested in and willing to make a significant contribution the local community. Four factors are important for the role of civil society in local communities in rural areas. Firstly, the involvement of both associations and citizens in the local community in rural areas is much greater than in larger and more urbanized local communities. Secondly, it’s typically associations that have broad purposes and relatively many resources that get involved in the local community. Thirdly, the population composition; the older a person is, the greater the likelihood of involvement in the local community. Fourth, public support for civil society is important for its role in local community.
The results indicate that even though civil society contributes positively to the development of local communities, but also, that civil society cannot (and should not) take over from public authorities, when the number of users becomes (too) low.

References

Boje, T. (2017). Civilsamfund, medborgerskab og deltagelse (Civil society, citizenship and participation). Gyldendal.
Evers, A. (2005). Mixed welfare systems and hybrid organisations: Changes in the governance and provision of social services. International Journal of Public Administration, 28(9–10), 737–748
Ibsen, B. (ed.) (2021). Voluntary and Public Sector Collaboration in Scandinavia. Palgrave macmillan.
Scott, W. R. (1995). Institutions and organizations. Sage.
Scott, W. R. (2013). Institutions and Organizations. Ideeas, Interests, and Identities. SAGE Publication.
Peters, B. G. (2012). Institutional theory: The “new institutionalism” in political science. Bloomsbury.

Authors

• Bjarne Ibsen, University of Southern Denmark

• Evald Bundgård Iversen, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics