The non-profit and voluntary sector An abiding school of thought embracing analysts of differing backgrounds holds that a democratic political system, if it is to be deeply rooted in the social fabric, must be articulated in a tightknit web of organizations positioned between the individual and the state: collective actors that enable citizens themselves to “become the state” by directly administering and providing socially useful services.
As the French sociologist Emile Durkheim stressed, a nation can be said to exist only if between the state and private citizens there is a whole series of secondary groups close enough to individuals to draw them forcefully into their field of action and so involve them in the mainstream of social life.3 The grass-roots presence of associations, mutual societies, communities and clubs, networks of civic commitment, is seen by some scholars as a decisive factor in establishing a climate of reciprocal confidence and social cooperation, which is necessary to launch a virtuous circle of economic development.4 The non-profit sector is defined essentially by two traits: private ownership and control and a ban on distributing profits.