Some authors have noted that the restructuring of the welfare state was not a negative phenomenon. Lewis (2004, 179) concluded ‘that welfare state restructuring in Europe over the past decade has been undertaken in order to promote social cohesion and to defend the European social model. The policy intent has been to bolster social solidarity’. She continued to assert that ‘European states have not withdrawn from the field of social welfare, but rather they have adopted new patterns of regulation and service delivery’ (ibid, 183) and continued by noting that these strategies were ‘Third Way’ in nature and the importance of community and voluntary sector organisations to these strategies.

These strategies can be described as an outcome of the phenomenon of entrepreneurial governance, a concept which encompasses the effect of governmental redefinition of their roles with regard to the welfare state and the creation of a new mixed economy with public, private and third sector elements. Entrepreneurial governance can be summarised as a move from ‘government’ to ‘governance’; instead of the government seeing its role to identify and deliver services it now saw its role to support and fund initiatives of the private and of the community and voluntary sector. The community and voluntary sector would play an important part of this new mixed economy. Third-way concepts such as ‘partnership’ and ‘civic engagement’ have become central to political debate. Sátre Ahlander (2001, 414) noted that partnership was increasingly used by policy makers across the European Union to involve users and stakeholders in policy formulation. Lewis (2004, 183) commented on the importance in Europe of state/community and voluntary sector partnership and noted that ‘it is a far cry from the business philanthropy of the USA’.

The internal effects on the community and voluntary sector can be described as three fold; the development of the ‘community’ sector since the 1960’s, professionalism and commercialisation.

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