The relationship between the state and the voluntary sector has changed significantly since 1948 when Beveridge’s major report, Voluntary Action, was first published. Sixty years later, a group of historians analyse and reassess the impact of Beveridge’s ideas about voluntary action for social advance in this timely volume. Using examples from the UK, Australasia and Canada, this book clearly articulates the importance and significance of Beveridge's ideas on voluntary action within an international context.
With the emphasis of governments on the importance of the voluntary or 'third sector' and the development of policies and practices to enhance social capital, build civil society and engage communities, this book will be invaluable for those interested in how the third sector has evolved over time. It will be of interest to historians, social policy researchers, political theorists, economists and educationalists.

1. Beveridge and voluntary action- Melanie Oppenheimer and Nicholas Deakin
2. Voluntarism, the state, and public-private partnerships in Beveridge’s social thought- Josie Harris
3. ‘The night’s insane dream of power’. William Beveridge on the uses and abuses of state power- Nicholas Deakin
4. The war and charity- Frank Prochaska
5. ‘Organisations for brotherly aid in misfortune’: Beveridge and the friendly societies- Dan Weinbren
6. Beveridge in the Antipodes: the 1948 tour- Melanie Oppenheimer
7. Voluntary politics: the sector’s political function from Beveridge to Deakin- James McKay
8. Youth in action? British young people and voluntary service: 1958 - 1970- Georgina Brewis
9. Voluntary action and the rural poor in the age of globalisation- Jill Roe
10. Voluntary Action in Britain since Beveridge- Pat Thane
11. Beveridge, the voluntary principle and New Zealand’s ‘Social Laboratory’- Margaret Tennant
12. After Beveridge: the state and voluntary action in Australia- Paul Smyth
13. The Great White North and Voluntary Action: Canada’s relationship with Beveridge, social welfare, and social justice- Peter R. Elson

Melanie Oppenheimer