Abstract
This chapter looks at two main issues. One is the meaning of and conditions for thorough-going and therefore sustainable democratization. The contemporary importance of this issue derives principally, but not only, from the current globalization of liberal multi-partyism in the wake of the victory of the ‘West’ in the Cold War. The second is the nature of ‘civil societies’ and their role both in this process and political change more generally. Particular, but not exclusive, attention will be focused on the part played by civil society in ‘developmentalist’ states in Africa — or, more exactly, formerly developmentalist ones. The method of exposition involves a series of long detours before these questions are addressed directly, however.
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Gibbon, P. (1998). Some Reflections on ‘Civil Society’ and Political Change. In: Rudebeck, L., Törnquist, O., Rojas, V. (eds) Democratization in the Third World. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26783-5_2
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