ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses civil society as both a theoretical concept and an empirical reality and also demonstrates some of the key difficulties encountered in studies of African civil societies and their role in democratisation. 'Civil society' has become an increasingly popular concept in both academic and policy debates since the 1989 fall of the Eastern European communist block stunned the world. The chapter describes some insight into the radically different views of civil society that emanate from different continents and points in time. In sub-Saharan Africa, as elsewhere, civil society actors gained great prominence as they often led the struggle against repressive and brutal patrimonial, authoritarian, and racist regimes. The experiences of Nigeria, Zambia and Kenya demonstrated that the characteristics of each country's civil society as well as the characteristics of its state structure and the actions of its government leaders work together to affect democratisation prospects.
