Terceiro setor e interesses coletivos: as alternativas sociais na busca da cidadania.

The interests of the community are the basis, the key features of the Third Sector as an actor in the exercising of citizenship. The crisis of the Constitutional and Institutional State that is not effectively reaching its social function is the result of the impact caused by political and economic events over the centuries which attributed to the legitimized of the Civil Society intense social demands that previously were belonging to the State itself. The reflections in this article are concentrated on the performance of the Third Sector, its social function, the mechanisms of work and public policies used in the search of the paths to citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]