The Neighborhood Self-Management Organization: Background, Vision, Ideology, and Organizational Domain

Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed changes in provision of social, human, and community services in Western countries (i.e., the United States, Canada, and England). These changes focus on the gradual transfer of traditional governmental authority, powers, and duties to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which have increased their share in provision of personal and social services. They are part of a trend described recently as the reinventing government movement, based on the axiom that the government should steer and not row. This process is also linked with developments such as government deregulation, attempts to reduce the size of governments, cutbacks in government expenditures, and devolution of authority. In the process of devolution, power is delegated from the upper government echelons to the lower echelons and peripheral units, as well as from the government to NGOs, including proprietary for-profit organizations and voluntary nonprofit organizations.