Between the family and the state exists an expansive space populated with organizations large and small, highly developed and spontaneously forming, existing for limitless purposes. These organizations constitute civil society. The concept of civil society enjoys a history that goes back to antiquity and has been chameleon-like in its development. For some, it excludes the market, while for others, it does not. Increasingly, attention is being paid to civil society as it is constituted, and as it functions, globally. As with democratic theory, and undoubtedly related to it, with the collapse of Soviet totalitarianism, there burst forth widespread interest in civil society. The term has now become a commonplace, used by scholars, politicians, activists, humanitarians, and others. In an ever-increasing globalized, interconnected world filled simultaneously with injustice, violence, and hope, the concept of global civil society holds interest and promise.
Setting premodern conceptions of...
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Minch, M. (2011). Global Civil Society. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_118
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