A comprehensive collection of the research and policy developments in civic service worldwide, this work provides an assessment of what works and what doesn't work in the field. It presents a conceptualization and operational definition of civic service that allows for variations across nations and cultures.

Foreword: Civic Service Analysis Has Come of Age, Amitai Etzioni; Preface and Acknowledgements; Part I. Context; 1. Building Knowledge on Civic Service Worldwide, Amanda Moore McBride and Michael Sherraden, with Margaret Lombe and Fengyan Tang; 2. From Military Service to Civic Service: The Evolution of National Youth Service, Donald J. Eberly and Reuven Gal; Part II. National Service: Policy, Potential, and Effects; 3. The Effects of National Service in Africa, with a Focus on Nigeria, Ebenezer Obadare; 4. Toward Universal National Youth Service in Israel: Possible Social Capital Effects, Nicole Fleischer and Reuven Gal; 5. The Effects of National Service in the United States: A Research Synthesis, James Perry and Ann Marie Thomson; Part III. Civic Service Across the Life Course; 6. Civic Service Among Youth in Chile, Denmark, England, and the United States: A Psychological Perspective, Judith Torney-Purta, Jo-Ann Amadeo, and Wendy Klandl Richardson; 7. The Potential Effects of Service-learning and Community Service in Educational Settings in Latin America, Maria Nieves Tapia; 8. Youth Service and Elder Service in Comparative Perspective, Nancy Morrow-Howell and Fengyan Tang; Part IV. Civic Service Across Borders; 9. International Civic Service: A Step Toward Cooperation in a Global World, Margaret Sherrard Sherraden; 10. Social Psychological Theory and the Potential for Intergroup and Ethnonational Cooperation in Civic Service Programs, Ronald Pitner; Part V. Impacts and Inquiry; 11. Civic Service Across Nations and Cultures: The Range of Effects and Ways to Study Them, Justin Davis Smith and Angela Ellis; 12. Directions in Civic Service Scholarship: An Institutional Perspective, Amanda Moore McBride and Michael Sherraden, with Natasha Menon About the Editors and Contributors; * Index.