ABSTRACT

Civic associationalism became one of the major modes of collective action in the late twentieth century. Civil associations emerged as a new-old form of social organization, seeking to empower society and democratize the state. They act in the realm that bridges the relationship between the legal and political power of the state and the basic social, cultural and political freedoms of society. Civic associations are established voluntarily and are based on the understanding that citizens need to engage in association and communication in order to determine their future, despite the fact that they cannot guarantee a clear correspondence between their declared intentions and the results of their actions. Civic associations are motivated by various social, economic and political needs and interests, seeking interactions and transformations of their political surroundings in order to achieve their goals without the direct engagement of the state and in spite of the involvement of the state (Seligman 1992). Civic associations seek the enrichment of public life, answering the material and symbolic needs of their society, and challenging state bias or shortages. The bias of the state and its inability or unwillingness to engage in certain social and cultural activities has led social groups to take the lead and establish their own associations to address some of their aspirations (Keane 1998; Touraine 1983). Such associations have also been a social form of placing limits on state power and blocking it from expanding into certain realms of social life that some people believe should be autonomous from state involvement (Burnell and Calvert 2004).