ABSTRACT
As democracies emerge out of various forms of totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe and authoritarian control in Latin America, they are challenged to construct anew almost every kind of social, economic, and political institution. In mature democracies among the most important contributors to a truly pluralistic policy debate are a panoply of institutions that have grown up specifically to serve this process. In true Darwinian fashion, those that respond to their environment survive a process of ruthless natural selection. Those that serve no purpose tend to wither and disappear. The performance of the institutions of civil society, such as those that facilitate public debate, has tended to be ignored or seen as responding merely to one form of desire for consumption by the population. In the complexity of modern society true democracy is not possible without the activities of agencies that provide the facts and cogent interpretations as well as the means for free expression and open communication.
