What is Civil Society?
Civil society is a concept located strategically at the cross-section of important strands of intellectual developments in the social sciences. To take account of the diversity of the concept, CCS adopted an initial working definition that is meant to guide research activities and teaching, but is by no means to be interpreted as a rigid statement: Civil society refers to the arena of uncoerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values. In theory, its institutional forms are distinct from those of the state, family and market, though in practice, the boundaries between state, civil society, family and market are often complex, blurred and negotiated. Civil society commonly embraces a diversity of spaces, actors and institutional forms, varying in their degree of formality, autonomy and power. Civil societies are often populated by organisations such as registered charities, development non-governmental organisations, community groups, women’s organisations, faith-b
What is civil society? Civil society is a concept located strategically at the cross-section of important strands of intellectual developments in the social sciences. To take account of the diversity of the concept, CCS, adopted an initial working definition that is meant to guide research activities and teaching, but is by no means to be interpreted as a rigid statement: Civil society refers to the set of institutions, organizations and behavior situated between the state, the business world, and the family. Specifically, this includes voluntary and non-profit organizations of many different kinds, philanthropic institutions, social and political movements, other forms of social participation and engagement and the values and cultural patterns associated with them. Why civil society? What is this sudden interest in civil society all about? Some may recall that the term was en vogue in the 18th and 19th centuries, but had long fallen into disuse, and became a term of interest to histor
