Enabling states, capitalising enterprise and confronting the social : issues and implications in researching contemporary social capital and enterprise / Éidín Ní Shé, Lorelle J. Burton and Patrick Alan Danaher -- The ghost in the machine : enabling public administration for an enabling state / Chris McInerney -- The residualisation of social housing in Australia and its impacts on older tenants / Alan Morris -- Stewarding change? A discussion about the METRO Care Model in regional Australia / Matt Gregg, Éidín Ní Shé and Lorelle J. Burton -- From absorption to inclusion : the evolution of Irish state policy on Travellers / Joan Hanafin, Marie Flynn, and Anne Boyle -- Local governments and social enterprise : meeting community challenges together? / Catherine Hastings and John Weate -- No one wakes up wanting to be homeless : a case study in applied creative writing / Francesca Rendle-Short, Ronnie Scott, Stayci Taylor, Michelle Aung Thin and Melody Ellis -- Shooting the filigreed breeze : reconsidering older men's trust relations in digital social enterprise / Lisa McDonald -- Gender differentiated social and human capital and the use of microcredit in Bangladeshi female entrepreneurship / Muntaha Rakib, Sayan Chakrabarty, and Stephen Winn -- Social enterprise and CALD Refugee Settlement Experience / Eric Kong, Sue Bishop and Eddy Iles -- Becoming and being a social entrepreneur in regional Australia : what can be learned and shared / Luke Terry and Marian Lewis -- The Thrive Program at Toowoomba Clubhouse : building social connections and reducing stigma experiences for people with a lived experience of mental illness / Sueanne M. Gola and Lorelle J. Burton -- Men of business 'Pay it Forward' Program : a model for building social capital in disenfranchised youth in high schools / Lorelle J. Burton, Éidín Ní Shé and Sue Olliver -- Clemente Toowoomba program : an alternative education model for creating pathways to higher education and employment for marginalised people in community / Rebecca Lane, Lorelle J. Burton and Gavin Beccaria -- Afterword : issues and implications / David Glem Postle.

Given the global crises confronting the world today, it is important to interrogate the notion of 'the modern state' and to evaluate its effectiveness in providing security and services for its populations, including the most disadvantaged and vulnerable. This book investigates the modern state's capacity to serve its constituents by examining the organisations that facilitate two key elements of contemporary living: social capital and social enterprise. These elements are explored in a series of rich case studies located in Australia, Ireland and Bangladesh, with broader implications for policy and practice in the rest of the world. The case studies highlight the growing importance of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship in fostering social capital and in contributing to the idea of 'the enabling state'.