抄録
Recently the public policy to promote voluntary civic action has been more and more criticized. The rapid and dramatic growth of voluntary action after the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake resulted in the institutionalization of non-profit organizations, but, publicly promoted and supported, some civic groups have come to make a close connection with the neo-liberal wing of the government. The public promotion of NPO groups has been originally developed through the structural reform of municipalities based on the new public management. But under the new system many groups, especially ones related to social welfare, have been gradually forced to lose their identity as non-profit organizations. In this article, I will analyze the process of the deterioration of voluntary civic action in the government policy precisely to insist on the necessity that it should be “voluntary” again in the true sense of the word.
