Civil Society Studies: Two Compendia Compared

Development and Change, 2013

works as an independent researcher based in Amsterdam. Educated at Harvard, Princeton and the Institute of Social Studies, his professional activities and research since 1970, chiefly in Africa and former East Bloc countries, have concentrated on the aid system and NGOs, trade unions and social movements.

Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2014

The social sciences are bedeviled by terminological promiscuity. Terms and phrases are used at one time in a certain context and later borrowed and applied in different circumstances to somewhat different phenomena. Sometimes different groups of actors or researchers simultaneously use the same term with somewhat different meanings. Such is the use of the term civil society. In this 5th Anniversary of the Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, it is timely to trace the evolution of the idea of civil society to its multiple guises in the present. The paper reviews the term’s 18th and 19th century roots, its recent resurrection and the opposing views of civil society, including views that question its applicability to non-western settings. It then discusses prospects for developing agreed approaches to the study of civil society. To guide our thinking the paper presents a brief overview of different approaches to defining civil society taken by some of the major ...

Civil Society: Between Concepts and Empirical Grounds, 2020

Examining the historical and social trajectories involved in the continuous development of civil society, this volume reveals the contextual nature of the process. Through empirical studies focusing primarily on Denmark and cov ering the period from 1849 to the present day, it analyses the manner in which civil society has been practised and transformed over time. Presenting a new theoretical framework informed by a relational and processual perspective, the book sheds new light on familiar questions pertaining to civil society, the production of its boundaries and spaces of action, and the means by which these spaces can become causal factors. A fresh intervention in the study of a concept that has been central in defining ideas of solidarity and the common good, and to which researchers and politicians look for solutions to the great challenges of our time, Civil Society: Between Concepts and Empirical Grounds will appeal to scholars of sociology, politics, history and philosophy with interests in civil society.

CamEconomist, 2014

The concept of civil society has a long tradition and has been given many interpretations, from being identified with political community by Aristotle who defines ‘civil society’ as more or less formalized institutions which form an autonomous social sphere. Post and Rosenblum defines civil society as freedom zone for individuals to associate with others. According to Young’s article, ‘civil society’ promotes trust, choice, and the virtues of democracy. However, many claims that ‘civil society’ is a central role in promoting democracy and social welfare under liberal constitutionalist regimes. Therefore, the civil society’s concept and role remains questionable and debatable, particularly among political researchers and academic scholars.

Civil Society Contrubutions to Democratic Governance, 2013

2003

PREFACE INTRODUCTION PART I CONCEPTUALIZING CIVIL SOCIETY: MODES OF CIVIL SOCIETY, THE IDEA OF CIVIL SOCIETY, RETHINKING THE PUBLIC SPHERE A CONTRIBUTION OF THE CRITIQUE OF ACTUALLY EXISTING DEMOCRACY, CIVIL SOCIETIES LIBERALISM AND THE MORAL USES OF PLURALISM, BOWLING IN THE BRONX THE UNCIVIL INTERSTICES BETWEEN CIVIL AND POLITICAL SOCIETY, BEYOND THE NATION? OR WITHIN?, CIVIL SOCIETY CULTURAL POSSIBILITY OF A MODERN IDEAL, CIVIL SOCIETY AND ITS INSTITUTIONS, CIVIL SOCIETY AND ITS AVATARS, CIVIL SOCIETY OR THE STATE WHAT HAPPENED TO CITIZENSHIP?, THE CIVIL AND THE POLITICAL IN CIVIL SOCIETY PART II CIVIL SOCIETY AND DEMOCRACY: EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATIONS: IN SEARCH OF CIVIL SOCIETY MARKET REFORM AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA, CIVIL SOCIETY AND OTHER POLITICAL POSSIBILITIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, CIVIL SOCIETY, CONTESTATION AND CITIZEN ACTION IN INDIA, THE COFFEE HOUSE AND THE ASHRAM, GANDHI, CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE PUBLIC SPHERES, DEMOCRACY, SOCIAL CAPITAL AN D CI VIL SOCIETY IN I...

Civil Society Organizations’ Contribution to Democratic Governance, 2013

Springer, 2009

"In Civil Society and the State, Emil Brix, Jürgen Nautz, Werner Wutscher, Rita Trattnigg, eds. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, 2007, pp. 33-52. This chapter attracts quite a few readers. Please see my chapter in Aronoff and Kubik, Anthropology and Political Science. A Convergent Approach. The chapter called WHAT CAN POLITICAL SCIENTISTS LEARN ABOUT CIVIL SOCIETY FROM ANTHROPOLOGISTS? is a much more developed and detailed exposition of my views civil society. I provide there a detailed definition and examine the relationship between civil society and the state. I also analyze the role of civil society in various types of political regimes.