ABSTRACT
For much of the contemporary debate on social movements and the process of democratisation, the starting point is the distinction between state and civil society. Whilst the state/civil society distinction first came to life in Euro-American political theory, there is no consensus - either now or historically - as to its meaning. It is no surprise that different strands in the current debate take their points of departure as different and even contradictory conceptions of what constitutes the distinction between state and civil society. It should thus be useful to begin our discussion on social movements and the democratic struggle by describing the two major contenders in this debate.
