Civic Engagement in a Network Society

a volume in Research on International Civic Engagement Series Editors Erik Bergrud, Park University and Kaifeng Yang, Florida State University The Pew Charitable Trusts defines civic engagement as ""Individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern. Civic engagement can take many forms, from individual volunteerism to organizational involvement to electoral participation. It can include efforts to directly address an issue, work with others in a community to solve a problem or interact with the institutions of representative democracy. Civic engagement encompasses a range of activities such as working in a soup kitchen, serving on a neighborhood association, writing a letter to an elected official or voting."" While publications on civic engagement have increased in recent years, there are some limitations or unfilled needs: (1) There is a lack of international perspectives; (2) There is a lack of management focus; (3) There are increasing demands on publications regarding online civic engagement; (4) They tend to be fragmented in individual disciplines such as Nonprofit management, political science, public administration, and sociology. We need a cross-disciplinary approach. Significant features: (1) Each book will have an international focus with contributions from around the world. It stimulates the sharing of experiences across countries. (2) Each book will focus on one cutting-edge topic that has not been carefully addressed in the literature. (3) Emphasizing the integration of research and practice, each book will provide both advanced research studies and innovative best practices. (4) Addressing both offline and online civic engagement. (5) A management focus so that books will provide practitioners insights on how to improve their managerial practices that relate to civic engagement.