Civil society enterprise and local development

Positioned on the margins of formal government agencies and sometimes even beyond their purview, civil society initiatives in Western Europe are playing an expanding role in the provision of services and in local development at the present time, as formal government reorganises and retreats. Drawing on personal experience in a local development trust in a relatively remote rural area in England, I consider three questions: “What creates and sustains such initiatives?”, “How do they build governance capacity?”, and “How can their activities be rendered legitimate?” In conclusion, and drawing on this specific experience, I consider the extent to which such enterprises are pioneering new ways of doing governance work and creating public value, their future sustainability, and their potential for enriching democracy. Finally, I suggest some directions on which future research might focus.