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Our knowledge about the complicated relationship between civil society and government is too limited. In recent decades, some theories on this relationship have been developed. However, these theories have not yet been sufficiently operationalised and tested. This research is intended to operationalize and test two of the most broadly accepted theories on nonprofit-government relations from a longitudinal perspective. The first theory is the voluntary failures of Salamon [1995], in which inherent weaknesses of the nonprofit sector are conceptualised. The second theory is the nonprofit-government relations lenses of Young [2000], enabling a thorough analysis of this dynamic, multi faceted relation. In order to test these theories, a historical case study of over 200 years will be analysed using an adaptation of the methodology of de Moor et al. [2016] for analysing the longitudinal transformation of institutions. This methodology was developed in order to analyse and compare rules and regulations systematically. The case study has unique characteristics, enabling the study of additional facets such as the relationship between [Jewish] religious civil societies and [Dutch] secular government, minority-majority relations and segregation-integration patterns. This research is intended to enable an improved, more detailed understanding of long term variations in mutual influence patterns and power relations between civil society and government. The conceptual insights could also be relevant for similar modern case studies.
Keywords
Nonprofit-government relations, voluntary failures, welfare, poverty, education, housing, health, longitudinal research, qualitative research, regulations, Jewish history
