Civil society participation volunteerism - A geographical analysis

Abstract

Civil Society Participation & Volunteerism: A Geographical Analysis. A Comparative Case Study of Limerick City & North Tipperary Active citizenship is expressed through participation in civil society and voluntary activity. Civil society is the space that functions outside the remit of the public sector and the private sector, but can work in partnership with them, through such avenues as the delivery of social services and the social economy. Several factors influence the level of participation, and how this participation is spatially distributed, such as levels of social capital, trust, and voter participation. Indicators of representative and participative democracy were investigated in order to ascertain if any statistical relationships existed between both strands of democracy, and indicators of spatial association were explored to identify the spatial distribution of these relationships. Various geographic levels were used in the investigation, from the macro of the EU, to the meso of Ireland, to the case study locations of Limerick City and North Tipperary, down to the local level of the community of Inch, North Tipperary. The findings show that significant statistical relationships exist between the indicators of representative and participative democracy, and what factors influence their spatial variability. The level of decentralisation and subsidiarity of decision-making in a State is a key factor in the spatial distribution of active citizenship, yet in the Irish case communities have tended to adopted grassroots movements in order to interact with this centralised hierarchy.