The local organizational society in Norway after the turn of the century:
Changes in scope, type and structure
by Dag Wollebæk, Kristin Strømsnes and Åsta D. NordøCentre for research on civil society and voluntary sector
The Hordaland surveys
• Registration of all local voluntary organizations in Hordaland 1980, 1988, 1999 and 2009
• Survey to organizations in 1980, 1999 and 2009
• More than 12.000 organizations registered at least once
-60 %
-40 %
-20 %
0 %
20 %
40 %
60 %
80 %
100 %
120 %
-60 %
-40 %
-20 %
0 %
20 %
40 %
60 %
80 %
100 %
120 %
New and disbanded associations, core rural municpalities and Bergen
Confirmed new
Existing, not registered 1999 (probablynew)Confirmed disbanded
Destiny uncertain
Balance new-disbanded
Gender• Women in executive committees: no change last ten years.
2009: 45 per cent female committee members in Bergen, 49 per cent in rural municipalities.
• Less than 40 percent of the women head of local associations
• The number of female leaders is considerably lower than what the number of female board members indicates.
• Women do not initiate new organisations; become leaders later on when the organisation have matured.
• The organisations in Bergen: decidingly bigger share of members with ethnic minority backgrounds than rural municipalities (54 versus 27 percent).
• Under-represented in executive committees both in Bergen and in rural municipalities (more serious in the latter)
• Participate in voluntary work, but lack formal representation.
• Under-represented in all organisation categories, and on all levels in the organisation
Ethnic minorities
Organisational structures
• Expanding geographic area of coverage: proportion of associations covering several municipalities increased from 1999 to 2009.
• Increased formalization: More associations have written by-laws, hold annual assemblies and accounts.
• New opportunities for funding and VAT exemption requires registration in public registries incentives to become more formalized.
Weaker connection between local, regional and national levels
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Affiliated with regional organization Affiliated with national organization
56
71,3
42,3
64
Affilliation with mother organization
1999
2009
Changes in meeting structure
• An increasing proportion of associations do not arrange membership meetings
10 per cent in 1999 – almost 20 per cent i 2009
• Weak reduction in turnout among associations holding membership meetings
• Reduction in frequency of membership meetings
• Executive committee meetings increase in the same period
Associations and their surroundings• Move in a communitarian direction. More oriented towards
society than members, more oriented towards consensus than conflict.
• Still, less cooperation with agents in the local environment and weaker ties to their local communities.
• Reduction in cooperation frequency for culture and arts, political parties and local community associations.
Conclusions (1)• The number of local organizations reduced
• Development towards a more secular and less political and ideological organizational society
• Growth mainly found within neighborhood organizations
• Women are underrepresented in leader positions
• Ethnic minorities formally underrepresented in the sector in general
Conclusions (2)• Development towards a dual organizational society more
pronounced
• Decrease in amount of associations arranging membership meetings and frequency of membership meetings.
• Number and frequency of executive committee meetings remains stable
• Despite a move in communitarian direction, local associations are less closely tied to their local communities