9.1 Third Sector European Policy network (TSEP)

Jeremy Kendall, University of Kent, Canterbury (UK)

Presenting the Third Sector European Policy Network

The Third Sector or the Organized, Non-Market Civil Society

The increased awareness of, and interest in, organised, non-market civil society (OCS) or (for convenient shorthand) the 'third sector' that has become increasingly evident over the past two decades - and of which the very existence of CINEFOGO is a symptom - has included an important public policy component. Whether one views this phenomenon sceptically or enthusiastically, its heightened policy salience means that it has become ever more relevant both for those who are generally interested in public and social policy processes, as well as to those who have heretofore specialized in the study of the 'third sector' or OCS.

The Third Sector European Policy (TSEP) Network

The TSEP network was initiated at the London School of Economics & Political Science in 2002 to begin the exploration of precisely this terrain: i.e. to foster a tentative but systematic initial account of the place of the third sector in policy processes. With financial support from the European Science Foundation's collaborative programme (involving national level founders), the European Commission's 5th Framework Programme, and the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), the basic idea of the network has been to build bridges between the otherwise balkanised bodies of knowledge relating to the public policy process on the one hand, and the third sector on the other. Prior to the network, and despite animated debates concerning general concepts and categories, relatively little analytic attention had been paid specifically to the development of understanding of the actual existing third sector policy and practice that prevails in European 'policy communities' at national and supra-national levels. The problem seemed particularly acute in relation to the issue of 'horizontal' policy. What are the ways of organizing policy over and above that which takes shape within 'industries' or 'policy fields', such as social care, health and housing - or more broadly outside the social welfare domain? How does the third sector 'fit' into policy architectures? And why does it take the forms that we observe?

With this knowledge gap in mind, during 2002 - 2006, network members have worked systematically and methodically to provide provisional and tentative - but initially use answers to these and other questions. The research was conducted at the country (and sub-national) level, but also involved attention to policy modes which are evolving in Brussels, and those which involve policy actors from across European countries and in Brussels as well. For example, within the EU, the Open Method of Co-ordination, and the process of negotiating the European Constitution (currently on the political back burner) have provided explicit opportunities for third sector policy actors (within the sector itself, but also inside the State and elsewhere) to engage. In examining the trajectory of the United Nations International Year of Volunteers (IYV-2001) we also sought to examine a process not confined to the EU.

TSEP Outputs

The network's main tangible outputs during its period of European funding support (up to 2005) were Policy Workshops conducted across Europe, a series of Working Papers, and a range of academic conference sessions, including the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) and the European Consortium for Policy Research (ECPR). Reports of the Workshops, and the Working Papers themselves are available from downloading from the LSE website (see below). Latterly, since 2006, coinciding with my relocation from LSE to the School of Social Policy, Sociology & Social Research (SSPSSR) at the University of Kent, Canterbury, the completion of a book building upon, but moving considerably beyond, the materials released in 2005, has been the main activity. This has involved close joint working with national partners, now working on an essentially voluntary basis (while CAF have continued to support my developmental and editorial role at Kent). The fruits of this labour will become available in 2007, with publication by Edward Elgar.

Read more

• General website for the TSEP Network
  A supplementary TSEP website is under construction at SSPSSR at Kent University. It will report in more detail of progress since 2006 - cf. upcoming edition of the CINEFOGO Newsletter.
• Jeremy Kendall (2005) Third Sector European Policy: Organisations between Market and State, the Policy Process and the EU - reference article for the work as a whole within the TSEP Network.