Civic Agency in Governance

The Role of Legitimacy with Citizens vs. Donors

Bibliographic Data

ID12249362
AuthorsRandall Puljek-Shank (0000-0001-7507-6040, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume29
Issue4
Pages870-883
Publication date2018-07-09
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueVoluntas Revista Internacional de Filosofia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2179-3786 • E-ISSN: 1573-7888
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s11266-018-0020-0
OpenAlexW2880876705
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited39

Civil society strengthening programs aim to foster democratic governance by supporting civil society organization (CSO) engagement in advocacy. However, critics claim that these programs foster apolitical and professional organizations that have weak political effects because they do not mobilize citizen participation. This literature focuses on how donor programs lead to low legitimacy of CSOs with citizens, limiting the means to develop agency toward the state. Here I investigate the influence of CSO legitimacy with donors and citizens on civic agency. Empirical research was conducted in Bosnia–Herzegovina on CSOs considered legitimate by donors, citizens, and both. I found that different forms of legitimacy were associated with different strategies and agency. CSOs with both forms of legitimacy, which have not received much attention until now, turned out to be of particular interest. These CSOs demonstrated agency as intermediaries between donors, government, and citizens, which enabled greater agency and broader outcomes

Agency (philosophy · Business · Civil society · Corporate governance · Democracy · Government (linguistics · Intermediary · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Law · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Political Conflict and Governance · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research

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