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The Third Sector and Civil Society: The Case of the “YES” Campaign in Northern Ireland

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Abstract

The recent attention on civil society has brought new focus to the third sector. This welcomed attention accentuates the need to specify the role of the third sector in promoting civil society, generally, and in promoting democratic civil society, specifically. This paper describes and examines the “YES” Campaign that had roots in the third sector of Northern Ireland and which conducted a nonpartisan campaign to win approval for the Belfast Agreement of April 1998. The case of the “YES” Campaign illustrates some direct and intentional roles of third sector organizations in promoting a more democratic civil society, and offers a basis for further study of these roles.

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Couto, R.A. The Third Sector and Civil Society: The Case of the “YES” Campaign in Northern Ireland. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 12, 221–238 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012339317165

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