Roberto Scaramuzzino

• Ph.D.
• Professor (Associate) at Lund University

Key functions of civil society organizations (CSOs) are to criticize governments and to hold them to account. Recent trends of privatization and contracting out challenge CSOs’ opportunities to voice such criticism. The purpose of this article is to analyse whether and why CSOs ‘hold back their criticism’ of public authorities, and how a compromise...

Many conflicts in Italian politics have focused on migration policy. After the national elections in 2018, this conflict cut across all societal spheres and levels of governance and administration. On the one hand, tightening migration policies and criminalizing pro-migrant civil-society actors created a conflict between the government and many civ...

The article examines the extent of and factors behind Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs’) use of social media to influence politics compared with nondigital political strategies, that is, using the traditional media and demonstrations. Taking stock of previous research on information and communication technologies, social media, and political infl...

Previous studies have found that elites differ from the general population not only in terms of their demographic and social composition but also with respect to policy preferences and attitudes. When it comes to civil society organisations, the issue of representation and representativeness of top-level leadership is of particular relevance, since...

The paper aims to understand how established civil society organizations (CSOs) react to populist governance and what factors influence the strategies adopted. Populist governance is often characterized by avoidance of intermediary institutions, such as CSOs, and repression/obstruction of oppositional civil society, which might challenge the positi...

Vem styr det civila samhället i Sverige? Denna viktiga gemensamma del av samhället, skild från staten och marknaden, framställs ofta som en motvikt till den maktordning som gäller i politik och näringsliv. I rörelser som idrottsföreningar, intressegrupper och trossamfund kan strukturerna tyckas mer tillåtande och inkluderande. Men vad vet vi egentl...

This open access book unveils the hidden elite of Italy's third sector, offering a rare glimpse into the lives and minds of civil society's most influential leaders. Bridging elite and civil society studies, it presents pioneering research on these powerful yet understudied figures. Through in-depth analysis, the chapters reveal surprising insights...

This chapter investigates the process of professionalisation within civil society elites, defined as the shift from unpaid voluntary engagement to paid employment within CSOs. Comparing Italy’s corporatist civil society tradition with the UK’s liberal model reveals contrasting dynamics. Italy exhibits lower levels of professionalisation, with a pre...

This chapter explores the subjective views and self-perceptions of top-level civil society leaders in Italy and Sweden regarding the general elite and the civil society elite. Drawing on data from the Civil Society Elite Survey study, it examines how civil society leaders define and delineate the boundaries between these two elite groups. The analy...

This chapter examines the career trajectories of Italian civil society leaders compared to those at the EU level. EU civil society organisations are a relatively recent phenomenon that has grown over the past few decades. They often act as umbrella groups with member organisations across European countries. While Italian civil society has a longer...

This chapter provides an in-depth exploration of the methodologies and data utilised in our comparative study of civil society elites across Europe, with a particular emphasis on Italy. The study incorporates data from 133 respondents in Italy, supplemented by comparative data from Sweden (308 respondents), the UK (123 respondents), and the EU leve...

This chapter examines the socio-demographic profile and attitudinal orientations of Italy’s civil society elite, offering critical insights into the power dynamics and representation within the sector. Comparative analyses situate the elite vis-à-vis the general population, grassroots activists, and economically privileged groups, revealing dispari...

This final chapter discusses how this volume has explored the dynamics that shape the composition, trajectories, and societal influence of Italian civil society elite. By bridging civil society studies and elite studies, it unveils the complexities characterising this elite stratum, illuminating their socio-demographic profiles, ideological orienta...

This chapter examines the elite structure of Italian civil society, tracing its historical roots in the Catholic Church and socialist movements, and how it mirrors broader national elite patterns and societal inequalities. It tracks the third sector’s development from its political party origins to its expansion and institutionalisation in the 1990...

This chapter examines the organisational landscape of elite civil society organisations in Italy at the national level, revealing a clear hierarchical structure dominated by a few top-tier organisations. These elite CSOs control the majority of resources and are primarily engaged in service provision, solidarity efforts, volunteering, and internati...

Emerging research on civil society elites has highlighted the presence of elitist tendencies in European civil societies with a growing concentration of political and economic resources in the hands of small groups of major organizations and leaders. Building upon this strand of research, this article aims at studying the power stratification of It...

The presence of an elite group in civil society elicits a discursive friction between the long-standing normative understanding of civil society, acting as a check on government overreach and autocratic tendencies, and elite theories. Robert Michels’s iron law of oligarchy posits that as individuals rise in the ranks to become organizational leader...

Rapporten presenterar resultaten av en studie som vi genomfört på uppdrag av Nätverket Idéburen Sektor Skåne och handlar om idéburna erfarenheter av samverkan med offentliga organisationer inom NAD. Syftet är att förstå hur strukturella förändringar och organisatoriska strategier har påverkat samverkan över tid. Tidsperioden sträcker sig från 2016...

This paper presents a novel methodological approach, multi-dimensional measure of resource stratification in civil society (MMRSC). The method aims at mapping civil society organisations based on different types of resources for studying resource stratification in civil society. The approach is based on six indicators consisting of economic, politi...

This chapter compares three different types of elite identification methods—the positional method, the reputational method, and claims-making analysis. The aim is to address the implications of different methods of elite identification for our understanding of civil society elites and to reflect on the methodological challenges in the study of civi...

This chapter aims at analysing the inter-organisational networks emerging from interlocking leaders among the most resourceful, national-level civil society organisations (CSOs) in four European countries. By comparing four different country contexts, we analyse differences in the characteristics of networks, find different mechanisms that seem to...

This chapter explores the composition of civil society elites and to what extent this differs from the general population, what we call the ‘civil society elite-masses gap’. While the civil society elites are, from a normative point of view, expected to be representative of the general population in terms of their social composition and attitudes,...

Summary: This article aims to compare how social workers in Italy and Sweden perceive their power towards clients and to explain similarities and differences in the light of different welfare systems and other factors at organisational and individual level. As social workers implement social services and contribute to community wellbeing in accorda...

This article investigates how Swedish civil society organizations (CSOs) legitimize their leaders through online press releases presenting newly elected or recruited leaders, and which leadership ideals that are reproduced. The aim is to analyze how leaders are socially legitimized through leadership ideals in a time of increased demands on CSOs. T...

This paper contributes to the understanding of power structures in civil society by the exploring organizational connections of leaders holding multiple top-level leadership positions in resource-rich civil society organizations (CSOs) in Sweden. Based on unique association network data among national level CSOs collected in 2018, we discuss possib...

The implications of professionalization of civil society organizations have seldom been explored in relation to the governance structure of organizations’ and leaders’ different terms of engagement. This study draws on a survey targeting leaders of Swedish welfare-oriented civil society organizations (N. 140) and compares the motives for engagement...

The aim of this paper is to map the emergence and development of a research field around the topic of "gender-based violence (GBV) against women with precarious legal status and their access to social protection in advanced welfare societies". We explore the academic knowledge production around this topic as a specific research field by using bibli...

Detta kapitel handlar om samverkan mellan sektorer och organisationer som en metod för social förändring. Vi vill med detta kapitel både beskriva en särskild metod för samverkan och reflektera över dess möjligheter och utmaningar. Metoden har utvecklats av Sensus studieförbund (Region Skåne-Blekinge) som är en av de stora organisationer som driver...

Expectations on collaboration between public authorities and civil society organizations (CSOs) have increased in Sweden the past decades, partly due to changes in the organization of welfare services. This article investigates a collaborative project within the migrant integration policy area. It is a collaboration between the employment offices i...

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between individual leaders’ career trajectories and organizational structure and identity in Italian civil society organizations (CSOs) active at national level. The analysis in this qualitative study draws on two sets of data, semi-structured interviews with leaders on their career trajectories...

Äldreomsorgen är ett fält där det finns kolliderande rättigheter.Rätten till lika omsorg för alla kan vara svår att kombinera med kraven på ett förstå den enskildes behov och att erbjuda individanpassade insatser. Inte minst i frågan om rätten till att kunna utöva sin religion och leva enligt religiösa och kulturella traditioner på ett äldreboende...

People who are active in the public debate testify to a tougher climate, and a number of chairpersons for civil society organizations (CSOs) have resigned after being threatened and harassed, which has been highlighted in the media. However, our knowledge of hate speech, threats and harassment against civil society leaders is limited. The aim of th...

Internationella studier om villkoren för civila samhällets organisationer (CSO) belyser hur deras relation till offentlig sektor avgör karaktären på organisationernas utveckling. Den här artikeln bidrar till forskning inom området på två sätt. För det första utforskar studien svenska CSO som är verksamma inom det sociala området och hur deras relat...

International studies on civil society organizations (CSOs) highlight how CSO's relation to the public sector is central to the characteristics of organizational change. This article contributes to this line of research in two ways. Firstly it explores how Swedish CSOs, involved with social services, are affected by proximity to and dependence on t...

The Brussels-based civil society organizations (CSOs) have been conceived by the EU to act as a bridge between the bureaucratic elites and the citizens of Europe. The institutionalized presence of the major EU-based CSOs has, however, called their legitimacy into question, as exemplified by notions such as 'revolving doors' implying homogeneous soc...

This article explores the perception of societal influence of civil society leaders based on a survey study conducted in 2017 among leaders of Swedish civil society organizations. Civil society leaders represent organizations that are often based on and guided by religious, political, or cultural values and that often strive to achieve some sort of...

Rapporten handlar om civilsamhällets ledare och bygger på en enkätundersökning som genomfördes under hösten 2017 med 140 ledare för nationella och regionala organisationer i det civila samhället i Sverige (N. 140). Syftet med rapporten är att ge en bred bild av dessa ledares positioner, de resurser de förfogar över, deras aktiviteter och inflytande...

The aim of the article is to explore trade unions' use of Internet and social media in communicating with members and to understand membership in the digital era. A point of departure is that new forms of relationships between individuals and organizations are on the rise as our present societies become more digitalized, which has changed how citiz...

Contrary to the general trend in European countries since the 2000s, Sweden has neither restricted its migration policy nor limited the rights of migrants. This changed with the ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015 when the government introduced policy changes to curb the number of arrivals and impede the granting of residence permits. Civil society organizati...

Il report presenta i risultati di una ricerca sulle opinioni degli assistenti sociali italiani raccolti attraverso una survey svolta nel periodo 2013-2014 da un gruppo di ricercatori italiani e scandinavi, interessati a conoscere la posizione della professione in merito in particolare ai temi delle condizioni di lavoro, del lavoro sociale quotidian...

The divide between interest groups and social movement studies runs deep, but present developments call for a renewed focus on the relevance of these analytical categories. Both of these two forms of collective action relate to organisations that are assumed to follow distinctive logics and strategies for political influence. This article aims to c...

Notwithstanding its many successes since 1945, the project of European integration currently faces major difficulties, from financial crises and mass immigration to the impending departure of the UK from the European Union. At the same time, these challenges have spurred civil society organizations within and across Europe, revealing a shared publi...

This chapter explores the extent to which Swedish civil society organizations (CSOs) Europeanize. The chapter focuses on regulatory, organizational, and financial Europeanization and on activities such as attempts to influence policy at the European level, participation in European networks, and apply ing for funding from EU institutions. The chapt...

This chapter explores which factors contribute to whether Swedish civil society organizations (CSOs) become involved in regulatory, organizational, and financial Europeanization. We will focus on factors that previous liter ature has deemed important for CSOs’ Europeanization—their availability of resources (number of members and paid staff) and th...

This article explores the advocacy activities of the Church of Sweden. The historical co-optation of the Church by the state, a Lutheran theological heritage, and a trend from “voice to service” within Swedish civil society might discourage stronger political activism by the Church. The following research questions are answered: How does the extent...

This article sets out to identify a culture of advocacy that has come to characterise Swedish civil society, formed around a long-standing tradition of close and cordial relations between civil society organisations, popular movements, and state and government officials. We argue that Swedish civil society organisations (CSOs) have been allowed to...

This article addresses domestic civil society organisations (CSOs) and their multilevel strategies for gaining political influence in the European Union. Drawing on a theoretical framework identifying different 'routes' that CSOs can take in a multilevel system of EU governance, this article analyses which routes or combination of routes CSOs take...

Denna rapport innehåller resultat från en enkät som i november 2016 skickades till organisationer med social och omsorgsinriktning inom det civila samhället. Frågorna gällde hur dessa organisationer tar sig an frågor om uppföljning, kvalitetsmätning och utvärdering, kort sagt: deras utvärderingspraktik. Utskicket till drygt 1200 adressater gav 416...

NAD står för Nätverk, Aktivitet och Delaktighet och är ett samarbete mellan Länsstyrelsen, Region Skåne, Arbetsförmedlingen och NÄTVERKET Idéburen sektor Skåne, en regional intresseorganisation för civilsamhället i Skåne. NAD utvecklar och förmedlar aktiviteter som erbjuds som en del av den etableringsplan som Arbetsförmedlingen upprättar tillsamma...

Socialt arbete har sin givna plats i det civila samhällets organisationer. Författarna till denna antologi har arbetat med forskningsprojekt som rör den ideella sektorns roll, funktion och status i ett föränderligt välfärdssamhälle, där konsekvenserna för det sociala arbetet och för olika brukargrupper är av särskilt intresse. Boken ger en bred bi...

Kapitlet skärskådar begreppet ”det civila samhället”. Det beskriver hur det historiskt har tillskrivits olika betydelser, vilket naturligtvis vållat debatt! Kapitlet diskuterar hur civilsamhället och det sociala arbetet förhåller sig till varandra både historiskt och begreppsligt. Den svenska välfärdsstatens utveckling och det civila samhällets rol...

Kapitlet presenterar en omfattande kvantitativ studie av det organiserade civila samhället i Sverige som genomförts genom en enkätstudie riktad till organisationer aktiva inom det sociala området. Mer än 1700 organisationers aktiviteter, resurser och finansiering samt hur de upplever relationen med det offentliga analyseras med hjälp av resultaten...

Kapitlet undersöker samverkan mellan Arbetsförmedlingen och föreningslivet för nyanländas integration. Studie visar på hur en föreningslogik och en myndighetslogik i flera avseenden skapar spänningar, från olika tolkningar av projektets mål till vad som är insatsernas huvudsakliga betydelse för målgruppen. Genom dialog kan många av dessa utmaningar...

EU är en allt viktigare del av det transnationella rum som både påverkar civilsamhällets villkor och erbjuder dess organisationer nya möjligheter till inflytande, samverkan och finansiering. Allt fler frågor hanteras på europeiska arenor med konsekvenser även för organisationslivet. Kapitlet bygger på analysen av en enkätundersökning som besvarats...

NAD betyder Nätverk, Aktivitet och Delaktighet och är ett samarbete mellan Länsstyrelsen, Region Skåne, Arbetsförmedlingen och idéburen sektor via NÄTVERKET. NAD-projektet utvecklar aktiviteter som en del av den etableringsplan som Arbetsförmedlingen upprättar tillsammans med den nyanlända. Verksamheten handlar om att underlätta för nyanlända flykt...

The question of how social workers view child welfare problems and what are seen as appropriate interventions has been subject of debate and research the last decades. The aim of the study is to investigate how different child welfare models influence social workers’ assessment of cases involving children at risk. This is done by identifying differ...

This chapter analyses relations and interactions among civil society organisations active at the European Union level in the prostitution policy area, which is characterised by opposite frames regarding prostitution as work, sex or violence. The study draws on the theoretical perspective of Strategic Action Fields, focuses on the International Comm...

This study explores factors that influence Swedish civil society organizations’ (CSOs) degree of activity at different geographical and administrative levels and, in particular, how they are affected by processes of Europeanization in the social welfare policy area. The present study is based on a national survey and includes approximately 1,600 Sw...

Il dibattito inerente l'assessment di servizio sociale è intenso sia nell’ambito della pratica professionale che dell’approfondimento scientifico. In Italia e in Europa negli ultimi decenni è emersa la necessità di finalizzare e approfondire la riflessione sul processo di valutazione attuato dagli assistenti sociali poiché le implicazioni operative...

Summary European welfare states have been subject to significant restructuring including a general trend towards downsizing the role of the state, and to a greater extent engaging other actors in social policy and social services. While comparative welfare research often overlooks the distinction between for-profit and non-profit actors, third sect...

http://www.civsam.se/integration

The agreement or compact in the field of integration aims to clarify the relationship between the state, municipalities and civil society in this policy area, to develop means to create better conditions for civil society organizations and to highlight how these organizations can develop as providers of service without losing their independent role...

Internationally there is an on-going political struggle regarding whether to define prostitution as violence, sex or work. In Sweden, however, the national law that bans purchase of sexual services, by defining prostitution as violence against women, has strong support. The aim of this article is to identify and describe claims-making and mobilisat...

This thesis concerns the role played by immigrant organisations today. It focuses on the way in which the national context and especially the corporative, social welfare, and integration systems affect such roles. The thesis is structured around the hypothesis that immigrant organisations are shaped by their interaction with political opportunity s...

Although social workers can be regarded as the practical interpreters and implementing actors of social policies, little is known about their attitudes to their working conditions and to ongoing social-political trends, especially in a comparative Nordic perspective. In this article the present conditions for social work is studied on the basis of...

This report is part of the research project ‘The European Union, a platform for trans-national co-operation: conflicts, challenges and opportu-nities for Swedish voluntary organisations?’ The project has been financed by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (Dnr. 2005-0291). The main purpose of this report is to study how the...