Report on LoGoSO paper presentation at ARNOVA Conference in San Diego

From 21 November to 23 November 2019, a delegation from the three LoGoSO-Project teams participated in the ARNOVA Conference in San Diego and presented the scientific outcomes of the project to a larger audience. The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) was founded in 1971 and is – according to its website, “a diverse community of scholars, educators, and practice leaders that strengthens the field of nonprofit and philanthropic research in order to improve civil society and human life.” In its annual conferences and other events academics and practitioners in the field of nonprofit organizations’ work and communities from all over the world (with a focus on Northern America) meet and exchange their views and experiences.

The project delegation had successfully proposed the panel with the title “Social Organisations and the State in China and Germany – Modes of Co-operation in the Field of Migration”. Professor Ma Qingyu presented a paper sharing his comparative view on State-Social Organization (SO) cooperation in service provision in China and Germany. Professor Annette Zimmer gave an overview on the different models of public administration in Germany with a special focus on subsidiarity. Beth Lovelady and Christina Grabbe analysed the German cases in the LoGoSO-Project with special attention to co-operative relationships between local government and nonprofits in Berlin and Cologne, applying a new public governance perspective and considering the theories of Third-Party Government and Network Governance. Katja Levy and Anja Ketels also used these theoretical frameworks in their comparison of the German and Chinese cases. Mao Peijin’s paper is an analysis of the factors that lead to successful and to unsuccessful cooperation between SOs and the government in the PRC. The papers were commented by Professor Mark Sidel (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Professor Hu Yinglian (Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC (National Academy of Governance)). The presentations and commentaries were followed by a lively discussion with the audience which comprised of fellow scholars and nonprofit practitioners from the US, Europe, Russia and China.

The papers will be published shortly as working papers here. An edited volume with the papers is in preparation for publication here (in 2020). Finally, a selection from the German and Chinese case study reports is going to be published in China (publisher to be confirmed). Stay tuned for updates!