ABSTRACT
The role of associations and more broadly that of civil society have often been conceptualised in relation to social capital. The neo-Toquevillian tradition that has come to prominence in recent years views rich associational structures as indicative of widespread social trust and as connected to good institutional performance. Given that this book addresses the relation of civil society to conflict and citizenship, it provides an alternative approach. Here the role of civil society is connected more specifically to the functions performed by associations at the political level and as an interface between the political system and society. Civil society is examined in terms of how citizens occupy the public space and exert influence on social and political institutions. Issues of ‘associational citizenship’ are theorised with reference to processes of expansion and redefinition of citizenship in a more inclusive perspective – a perspective that is for instance more inclusive of gender and ethnic diversity. The functions and changes in civil society and its formations are historically contextualised and analysed in relation to modal changes in social organisation, processes of globalisation, and political representation. In this perspective, the issue of the political role of civil society can be analysed both in its organised and in its unorganised aspects. It can be examined in its direct impact on the political system and in its indirect impact through social institutions such as the family; in its macro-sociological aspects and in its micro-sociological ones. Conceptualised in these terms, the issue of the contribution by civil society to the political and social order assumes new aspects. It emerges as a political discourse with both emancipatory and constraining features.
