"Civil society: a critical view on liberal civil society"

CIVIL SOCIETY The idea of civil society is rooted in the writings of early European philosophers, but the concept has acquired a new relevance in contemporary debates, with the spectacular popular uprisings against regimes in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1980s. However, the fact remains that civil society is more commonly invoked than it is carefully defined. Often the term is used to refer to the whole range of groups and institutions that stand …

…f Cold War and the growing global interconnectedness have undermined the territorial distinction between so called "democratic" west and "undemocratic" east and south. Non governmental organizations, expanding the national borders, function as check system over the nation-states in the global arena. They act as significant pressure groups over countries and work over the ideals of democracy, human rights, health and education. Thus they surround not only the public sphere but also gained a international scope.