ABSTRACT
Civil society associations assemble people who share concerns about a particular policy issue. The countless instances of civil society activities include anti-poverty campaigns, business forums, consumer advocacy, criminal syndicates, pro-democracy groups, development cooperation initiatives, environmental movements, ethnic lobbies, faith-based associations, human rights promotion, labour unions, local community groups, peace movements, peasant mobilisations, philanthropic foundations, professional bodies, relief organisations, think tanks, women's networks, youth associations, and more. The huge diversity of civil society groups is evident not only in their broad range of focal issues, but also in their multifarious organisational forms, constituencies, capacity levels, geographical scopes, ideological persuasions, strategic visions, and campaign tactics. Taking the alternative route of devolution, some other elements in post-statist civil society have promoted a relocation of sovereignty downwards to smaller governance units. In this vein some contemporary indigenous people's movements have sought to assert self-determination as so-called first nations outside of established states.
