ABSTRACT
The past decade has witnessed an explosion of interest in volunteerism and civic service worldwide, perhaps best illustrated by the involvement of more than 130 national governments in the United Nations International Year of the Volunteer in 2001. This interest has been fueled in part by the rapid expansion of the voluntary sector, what Salamon has referred to as a “global associational revolution” (1994, 109), as well as by a growing belief among policy makers in the role of volunteerism and civic service in the building of healthy communities and democratic institutions.
