Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society,
distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.
By other authors, "civil society" is used in the sense of 1) the aggregate of non-governmental
organizations and institutions that manifest interests and will of citizens or 2) individuals and
organizations in a society which are independent of the government.
Sometimes the term civil society is used in the more general sense of
"the elements such as freedom of speech, an independent judiciary, etc, that make up a
democratic society" (Collins English Dictionary). Especially in the discussions among thinkers
of Eastern and Central Europe, civil society is seen also as a normative concept of civic values.
-Democracy-
The literature on relations between civil society and democratic political society have their root
in classical liberal writings of G.W.F. Hegel from whom they were adapted by Alexis de
Tocqueville, Karl Marx, and Ferdinand Tonnies. They were developed in significant ways by 20th
century researchers Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, who identified the role of political
culture in a democratic order as vital.
They argued that the political element of political organizations facilitates better awareness
and a more informed citizenry, who make better voting choices, participate in politics,
and hold government more accountable as a result. The statutes of these political organizations
have been considered micro-constitutions because they accustom participants
to the formalities of democratic decision making.
More recently, Robert D. Putnam has argued that even non-political organizations in civil society
are vital for democracy. This is because they build social capital, trust and shared values,
which are transferred into the political sphere and help to hold society together,
facilitating an understanding of the interconnectedness of society and interests within it.
Others, however, have questioned how democratic civil society actually is.
Some have noted that the civil society actors have now obtained a remarkable amount of political
power without anyone directly electing or appointing them. It has also been argued that civil
society is biased towards the global north. Partha Chatterjee has argued that,
in most of the world, "civil society is demographically limited." For Jai Sen civil society
is a neo-colonial project driven by global elites in their own interests.
Finally, other scholars have argued that, since the concept of civil society is closely
related to democracy and representation, it should in turn be linked with
ideas of nationality and nationalism. Latest analyses suggest that civil society is a neoliberal
ideology legitimizing antidemocratic attack of economic elites on institutions of the welfare state
through the development of the third sector as its substitute.