THE 3RD SECTOR IN THE 2ND WORLD

The revolutions of 1989 toppled communist regimes throughout Central Europe and brought democratic forces to the brink of power in the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and Rumania. Economic decay and reform in the Soviet Union fostered the actual upheavals. The main force for change, however, came from the mass public itself. One result has been the formation of a voluntary third sector of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The extraordinary effervescence of NGOs of all types is the single most distinctive aspect of the revolutions of 1989. NGOs already affect public decision making, channel energies and resources, and bring local, national, and even international expertise and resources to bear on heretofore neglected needs. Their further flowering will depend on the creation of solid legal protections, the establishment of a viable private sector in the economy, and on the further development of habits of independence and initiative throughout the societies. © 1991.