Democracy and the role of associations political, organizational and social contexts

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The lure of the associative elixir -- Democracy, fascism, and civil society / E. Spencer Wellhofer -- The limits of civil society within a divided community : the case of Northern Ireland / Feargal Cochrane -- European civil society : institutional interests and the complexity of a multi-level policy / Stijn Smismans -- Welfare through organizations / William A. Maloney and Sigrid Rossteutscher -- The position of interest groups in Eastern European democracies : maturing servicemen or trojan horses? / Umut Korkut -- Activating participation : generating support for campaign groups / Emma L. Clarence, Grant Jordan and William A. Maloney -- Tracing the contradictions : associational life versus informal networks in a third world context / Nadia Molenaers -- Churches as voluntary associations : their contribution to democracy as a public voice and source of social and political involvement / Joep de Hart and Paul Dekker -- Women's power under threat? voluntary organizations in transition / Dag Wollebæk and Per Selle -- Civic communities and multicultural democracy / Meindert Fennema and Jean Tillie.