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VIDEO: What became of the Big Society?

Who remembers the Big Society? Launched to great fanfare at the start of 2010, the Big Society was David Cameron’s big idea to create more social action, empower communities and open up public services.

Seven years on, what is the legacy of the Big Society agenda, and what impact has it had in communities? In Sunderland, we spoke to people about how civil society has been impacted by government policy in recent years. We witnessed how, despite the rhetoric around the Big Society, the government's austerity programme has left civil society organisations across Sunderland struggling to survive. Watch the video: [embed]https://youtu.be/5PXnahnkBXk[/embed]  

openDemocracy Author

Laurie Macfarlane

Laurie Macfarlane is a co-director at Future Economy Scotland and a Fellow at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). He was formerly economics editor at openDemocracy and a senior economist at the New Economics Foundation

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