Civil Society Challenged: Towards an Enabling Policy Environment

The roles of non-governmental or civil society organizations have become more complex, especially in the context of changing relationships with nation states and the international community. In many instances, state–civil society relations have worsened, leading experts to speak of a "shrinking space" for civil society nationally as well as internationally. The author proposes to initiate a process for the establishment of an independent high-level commission of eminent persons (i) to examine the changing policy environment for civil society organizations in many countries as well as internationally, (ii) to review the reasons behind the shrinking space civil society encounters in some parts of the world and its steady development in others, and (iii) to make concrete proposals for how the state and the international system on the one hand and civil society on the other hand can relate in productive ways in national and multilateral contexts

Volunteering in Cross-National Perspective: Initial Comparisons

Anheier and Salamon shed some light on volunteering in different parts of the world by exploring the conceptions and patterns of voluntary action cross-nationally. As a cultural and economic phenomenon, volunteering is part of the way societies are organized, how they allocate social responsibilities, and how much engagement and participation they expect from citizens

Creating Opportunities: The State of the Nonprofit Sector in Los Angeles 2007

Provides an annual analysis and statistical review of the state of the nonprofit sector in the region, explores current policy and budget developments impacting the sector, and seeks to inform debate about the sector's current and future role

Democracy requires the critical engagement of practitioners and experts alike if it is to thrive in these challenging times

In a recent special edition of the journal Global Policy entitled “Changing the European Debate: A Rollback of Democracy”, contributors tackled key questions about the immediate challenges that democracy, both at the national and international level, face. Helmut K. Anheier looks at some potential problems to the broad issues that democracy faces in an age characterised by what might be described as a global ‘hollowing out’ of democracy

Foundations in Europe: A Comparative Perspective

Europe has a rich tapestry of foundations. These vary throughout the countries of this continent with regards to type, size, activities, role, development and their levels of recent growth. This paper first highlights then analyses these differences and suggests common themes and policy implications

Foundations in Germany : Summary and Policy Recommendations

This study intends to complete the current understanding of the role, positioning and contributions of foundations in Germany. It is a joint project of the Hertie School of Gover-nance and the Centre for Social Investment of the University of Heidelberg, led by Helmut K. Anheier. It investigates the following questions: What are the objectives of foundations, and what roles do they see for themselves? How do they position themselves with regard to the state, market and civil society? What are their comparative advantages and disadvantages, and how do they benefit society? Finally, what are the implications for foundations and policymakers? In answering these questions, the project collected and analyzed a range of quantitative (survey research, available statistics) and qualitative data (expert interviews, case studies, focus groups), and did so for foundations as a whole as well as in specific activity fields: education, higher education, social services and arts and culture

The Third Sector in Europe: Five Theses: Civil Society Working Paper 12

In recent years, the third sector has grown increasingly important in Europe. This trend not only suggests greater political interest in the third sector, but also indicates that the EU is taking a more active role in policy-making in this field. With the help of five theses and the background of recent research findings in the field, this document explores what lies behind this shift, what developments are likely to take place in the coming years, and how these will affect the third sector

Introducing our series on the Dahrendorf Symposium 2013

As part of the Dahrendorf Symposium, being held on 14-15 November in Berlin, EUROPP will be hosting a series of articles framed around the symposium’s topic: ‘Changing the European Debate: Focus on Climate Change’. To kick off the series, Dahrendorf Academic Co-Directors Helmut K. Anheier and Arne Westad outline some of the main issues surrounding this year’s topic

First fringes with an integrated-optics beam combiner at 10 um - A new step towards instrument miniaturization for mid-infrared interferometry

Observations at mas-resolution scales and high dynamic range hold a central place in achieving, for instance, the spectroscopic characterization of exo-Earths or the detailed mapping of their protoplanetary disc birthplace. Ground or space-based multi-aperture infrared interferometry is a promising technique to tackle these goals. But significant efforts still need to be undertaken to achieve a simplification of these instruments if we want to combine the light from a large number of telescopes. Integrated-optics appears as an alternative to the current conventional designs, especially if its use can be extended to a higher number of astronomical bands. This article reports for the first time the experimental demonstration of the feasibility of an integrated-optics approach to mid-infrared beam combination for single-mode stellar interferometry. We have fabricated a 2-telescope beam combiner prototype integrated on a substrate of chalcogenide glasses, a material transparent from 1 to 14 um. We have developed laboratory tools to characterize the modal properties and the interferometric capabilities of our device. We obtain fringes at 10 um and measure a mean contrast V=0.981 \pm 0.001 with high repeatability over one week and high stability over 5h. We show experimentally - as well as on the basis of modeling considerations - that the component has a single-mode behavior at this wavelength, which is essential to achieve high-accuracy interferometry. From previous studies, the propagation losses are estimated to 0.5 dB/cm for such components. We also discuss possible issues that may impact the interferometric contrast. The IO beam combiner performs well at 10. We also anticipate the requirement of a better matching between the numerical apertures of the component and the (de)coupling optics to optimize the total throughput. The next step foreseen is the achievement of wide-band interferograms.Comment: Accepted in A&A; 7 pages; 7 figure