Introduction

This chapter provides a series of critical perspectives on the third sector (TS) from around the world and in a variety of contexts. The TS or civil society has been encouraged to offer a more active role in public service delivery, particularly in social and community contexts. Taking a Habermasian philosophical lens, the TS can be viewed as the life world, and the individual organizations such as charities, voluntary organizations and social enterprises which form the TS can be considered the system. In terms of impact on the third sector, services traditionally carried out by the public sector may eventually be carried out by third sector organizations, the private sector or a tripartite combination of public/private/third sectors. Performance management in the third sector is subtly different from that of the public sector for a number of reasons. The TS is made up of a broad constituency of volunteers and paid employees.