The Rain in Spain: The Social Action Third Sector and Government Authorities

Abstract

The interaction between the public and voluntary social action sectors has taken on a special relevance, intensity and expansion in recent decades in complex affluent Western societies while at the same time there has been a double linking process. On the one hand, the Third Sector in general, and in particular the Third Sector connected to social intervention,¹ has become an important player in these societies as a provider of health and welfare goods and services and a transmitter of demands and claims which crystallise community participation and civic commitment. On the other hand, government authorities have opened their doors to the participation of non-profit and profit-making private sectors, changing the direction of public policies, devising mechanisms for co-management of services run by the civil society and articulating measures and governance models for the provision of social welfare services.