ABSTRACT
This chapter points out how the Reagan-Thatcher revolution has been accompanied by the growing significance of the third, or nonprofit, sector and the philanthrocapitalism of corporate elites. It provides a brief historical sketch of the rise of big philanthropy during the Gilded Age, and then takes up contemporary critiques of big philanthropy, noting how the recent growth of the nonprofit sector has accompanied a dramatic rise in inequality in society. It notes how contemporary global philanthropic elites seem eager to solve pressing global social problems but are virulently opposed to taxation that would enable governments to do the same. The chapter then explores how the Reagan-Thatcher era was accompanied by shifting notions regarding the nature of democracy and the best way to actualize democratic ideals. Thatcher was strongly inclined to define civil society in market terms. The growing interest in globalization during the 1990s also drew interest and excitement among business leaders, politicians, and heads of international institutions around the potential for civil society and, hence, democracy, to flourish in the post-Soviet era. The chapter concludes by noting that while the idea of governance has gained legitimacy, historical liberal notions of government and the administrative state have been denigrated.
