Partnership, the Big Society and community organizing: between romanticizing, problematizing and politicizing community

The first part of the article examines the impact of neo-liberalism on the third sector in the United Kingdom, focusing in particular on opartnership' and the oBig Society' as key narratives shaping assumptions about the nature of social change and the respective roles of the state, market and third sector. In the second part of the article, ideas associated with political theorists Chantal Mouffe and Hannah Arendt are drawn upon to provide insight into the nature and importance of othe political' in promoting democracy and social change. This provides a conceptual framework for exploring the link between the Big Society and community organizing and the potential for community organizing to provide an effective political approach to working with poor and disadvantaged communities.