Content area
Abstract
There is a growing political and fiscal urgency in Sweden for renewing the public sector and enriching the welfare state. Neither of the protagonists in the current debate about public or private social services takes 3rd sector alternatives or the potential contribution they could make into account. Third sector cooperative alternatives offer such contributions as: 1. the empowerment of consumers, 2. the renewal and enrichment of working life, and 3. the enhancement of goal fulfillment in the public sector. All of these contributions are also objectives for renewing the public sector and enriching the welfare state. In the US and UK, nonprofit organizations have often been seen as providing more efficient welfare services than either public or private for-profit channels. Third sector or voluntary associations have not earned the same recognition in Sweden, in spite of recent support by a parliamentary commission. An empirical study of these organizations and their impact in Sweden is needed.