Protest or partnership? The voluntary and community sectors in the policy process

Craig, Gary; Taylor, Marilyn; Parkes, Tessa

Abstract

The growing emphasis on partnership is opening up new opportunities for voluntary and community organizations, many of which have felt themselves hitherto to be "outsiders" in the policy process. But it is also generating new dilemmas as they strive to maintain their autonomy while increasingly operating as insiders. This article examines the strategic choices that such organizations make in seeking to influence policy and the challenges that they face. It rejects the simple categorizations made between "insiders" and "outsiders" in the policy process, arguing that strategic choices are more complex and dynamic than this, with insider strategies dependent on outsider strategies and vice versa, and many organizations operating from both arenas. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2004.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2004
• Journal: Social Policy and Administration
• Print ISSN: 0144-5596
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9515
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 38
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 221-239
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9515.2004.00387.x
• Keywords: protest, partnership, voluntary and community organisations, democratic process
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1062430
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9515.2004.00387.x
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Lead author, reworking and providing a conceptual framework for theme paper prepared by co-author summarising from empirical research on an ESRC funded project for which Taylor was lead applicant, joint manager with Craig and co-researcher.