Skip to main content

Citizen Participation and Nonprofit Organizations

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance

Synonyms

Citizen engagement, Citizen involvement, Voluntary association

Definition

Citizen participation: a process in which individuals engage with institutions and with their environments to have a voice in making decisions about issues concerning their lives.

Introduction

In democratic societies, the concept of citizenship encompasses a notion of having certain rights. One of those rights includes the right to engage in the political sphere to be heard and have a say in the decisions and issues that affect the lives of citizens. A method citizens use to engage in the political sphere is through participation in nonprofit organizations. Citizen participation in nonprofit organizations is a long-held tradition in societies across the globe, from grassroots organizations to national and international nonprofit organizations and spanning across different social, cultural, and political backgrounds. Participation in nonprofit organizations empowers citizens, acts as a mechanism for...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth M. Gillespie .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Gillespie, E.M. (2017). Citizen Participation and Nonprofit Organizations. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2937-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2937-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics