The COVID-19 pandemic has changed societies around the world in many profound ways, not the least of which is the relationship between the nonprofit sector and government. Similar to experiences in other realms, such as poverty and inequality in the economy, the character of the workplace and systems of public health and public education, the pandemic has exposed underlying weaknesses and exacerbated latent problems in civil society/governmental relations but also leveraged some of the strengths in this relationship. In this issue, special editor Agnes Kover has compiled the experiences of nine countries across Europe and Asia during the first half of the pandemic in 2020. Scholars in the UK, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Turkey, India, South Korea, Israel and China were asked to study their countries’ experiences through available means of systematic research so that this volume could be published in timely fashion. Throughout this process, she was assisted by her colleague and husband Jon Van Til.
Despite the challenges, all papers were subject to rigorous peer review and have yielded important insights. The results are both encouraging and disheartening. In some countries, the pandemic was an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of collaboration between nonprofits, civil society and government. In other cases, autocratically-minded governments exploited the situation to consolidate power and repress civil society and the role of nonprofits. In her introductory essay, Agnes Kover provides a detailed overview and analyzes the broad patterns and implications of this cutting edge research effort.
In addition to the essay, the volume consists of seven formal research papers and two lengthy commentaries, each focusing on a different country. The research papers entail focused empirical initiatives by leading scholars to synthesize and analyze available data. The commentaries represent the informed perspectives and analysis of secondary sources by leading scholars of those countries. In addition, we offer a book review in our feature section by Julie Fisher. Dr. Fisher reviews a new book by George E. Mitchell, Hans Peter Schmitz and Tosca Bruno-van-Vijfeljken on the future of transnational NGOs as they negotiate the space between governments and the global problems they seek to address.
I hope you enjoy this issue and find it helpful and worthwhile in these difficult times.
Dennis R. Young, Editor-in-Chief
© 2021 Dennis R. Young, published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
