Modernizing Democracy brings together scholars focusing the role of associations and associating in contemporary societies. Organizations and associations have been identified as the meso level of society and as the basic elements of democracy. They are important providers of welfare services and play an important role between the individual and political spheres. In recent years the environment of associations and associating has changed dramatically. Individualization, commercialization and globalization are challenging both democracy and the capability of associations to fulfill the functions attributed to them by social sciences. This change provides the central question of the volume: Is being part of an organization or association becoming an outdated model? And do associations still have the capacity of modernizing societies or are they just outdated remnants of post-democracy? The contributions to Modernizing Democracy will be organized into: Studying Association and Associating in the 21st Century, Associating in Times of Post-Democracy and Associations and the Challenge of Capitalist Development. The book will be attractive to third sector researchers as well as a broader academic community of political scientists, sociologists, economists, legal scientists and related disciplines.

Matthias Freise received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Münster University, Germany where Annette Zimmer was his doctoral advisor. Currently, he is Assistant Professor of Political Science and executive director of the Graduate School of Politics at the same place. Previously, he supervised a doctoral research group on European Civil Society and Multilevel Governance at Münster University together with Annette Zimmer. His research interests include civil society theory, third sector research, European multilevel governance and interest representation. He is co-editor of the series European Civil Society at Nomos Publishers. Recent publications include A Panacea for all seasons? Civil Society and Governance in Europe (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2010) and several articles on civil society organisations in public private partnerships. In addition, Matthias Freise is a teacher in the advanced training course on Nonprofit Management and Governance at Münster University.

Thorsten Hallmann received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Münster University, Germany, in 2008. His dissertation dealt with the public discourse on drug policy and the "drug scene" in Münster. He is mainly working on third sector and local policy issues. From 2011 to 2013 he was a member of the WILCO research team, a EU-funded international project on welfare innovations on the local level. As a student, he joined the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project team in Münster, headed by Annette Zimmer. Later they conducted further research on local associations together. Hallmann also worked as a volunteer and board member in a local refugee relief organisation and is an active member of further civic associations.

Preface.- Chapter 1. Modernizing Democracy? Associations and Associating in the 21st Century.- Chapter 2. Social Life and Politics in Voluntary Organizations :An Historical Perspective.- Chapter 3. Alexis de Tocqueville revisited: Between the Centralization of Political Power, Civil Associations and Gender Politics in the European Union.- Chapter 4. Tocqueville did not write about soccer clubs: Participation in voluntary associations and political involvement.- Chapter 5. Voluntary Associations and Social Capital: Inclusive and exclusive dimensions.- Chapter 6. Who Calls the Shots? The Real Normative Power of Civil Society.- Chapter 7. The Impact of Civil Society on Sustainable Development.- Chapter 8. Volunteering in a hybrid institutional and organizational environment: An emerging research agenda.- Chapter 9. Voluntary Involvement in German Welfare Organizations.- Chapter 10. Changes in work and human services: On the risks and chances they entail for volunteering.- Chapter 11. Residual and Emancipatory Value of Volunteering in the Czech Society.- Chapter 12. Two Decades of Participatory Democracy in Poland.- Chapter 13. The role of civil society organizations in the field of unemployment: for or by the unemployed?.- Chapter 14. Transnational mobility and associative life.- Chapter 15. Associating at the European level: Civil Society Networks in Brussels.- Chapter 16. Why Is There no Statute for a European Association?.- Chapter 17. Developments in the Third Sector The Last Decade and a Cautious View into the Future.- Chapter 18. Though we manage we are no corporation! Patterns in volunteer management of German youth organisations.- Chapter 19. Governance logics in NGDO-Boards between political and economic challenges: Empirical results from Austria.- Chapter 20. Associating for Affordable Housing: Nonprofit Social Housing in Germany and the US.- Chapter 21. From Mainstreaming to Modernization? New Labour and the Third Sector in England.- Chapter 22.Towards a neoliberal Third sector? International lessons from recent developments in China.- Chapter 23. Social Investment: Franco-German Experiences.- Chapter 24. Opportunities and limits of cooperatives in times of socio-ecological transformation.- Chapter 25. Nonprofit Arts and Culture in the United States: Roles, Audiences and Participation.- Chapter 26. Major Giving in Germany: Facts and Opportunities.- Chapter 27. Aktive Bürgerschaft: Innovations for Civil Society in Germany.