The Nonprofit Response to the Migration Crisis: Systems-Theoretic Reflections on the Austrian and Slovak Experiences

Vladislav Valentinov (), Martina Bolečeková () and Gabriela Vaceková ()
Additional contact information
Vladislav Valentinov: Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies
Martina Bolečeková: University of Matej Bel
Gabriela Vaceková: Masaryk University

Systemic Practice and Action Research, 2017, vol. 30, issue 6, No 5, 661 pages

Abstract: Abstract The present paper discusses the response of the Austrian and Slovak nonprofits to the recent migration crisis. In both countries, nonprofits delivered crucial problem-solving contributions but faced serious challenges related to scaling up, capacity building, and improving coordination. Drawing on the Luhmannian systems-theoretic approach, the paper argues that these challenges gave a boost to the systemic identity of nonprofits. Triggered by the substantial inflows of public money, the systemic identity explains why nonprofits can successfully operate in the polarized societal environment and develop unique expertise which is valuable to the public sector. At the same time, the systemic identity lowers the responsiveness of nonprofits to the societal environment. The major policy implication is that this responsiveness has to be continually improved through rational discourses and stakeholder dialogues.

Keywords: Niklas Luhmann; Nonprofit organizations; Migration; Systems theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11213-017-9413-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:syspar:v:30:y:2017:i:6:d:10.1007_s11213-017-9413-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/11213

DOI: 10.1007/s11213-017-9413-z

Access Statistics for this article

Systemic Practice and Action Research is currently edited by Robert Flood

More articles in Systemic Practice and Action Research from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().