ABSTRACT
This book has attempted to advance our understanding of the ‘loose and baggy monster’ that is the voluntary sector in Britain as a comparative phenomenon.1
It has approached the topic from a number of angles. This final chapter proceeds by summarizing some of the main themes of the foregoing discussion, and points to the overall conclusions that can be drawn concerning the voluntary sector’s comparative impact. The following two sections then situate the discussion of impact in a broader political economy context. Section 10.2 notes why the relationship between voluntarism and policy is considerably more fragile than it at first appears. Section 10.3 compares and contrasts rival views as to the desirability of the current relationship between the state and the voluntary sector that is taking shape. Section 10.4 concludes by relating these normative accounts to the approach taken in this book.
