ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a theoretical framework which will facilitate a greater understanding of the modest successes and catastrophic failures of civil society in exposing the fatal crime of toxic waste dumping in Abidjan in August 2006. The elements of civil society examined include non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Ivory Coast and 'global', or 'foreign' or 'international', NGOs – sometimes referred to as international NGOs (INGOs). Mercer acknowledges an increasing trend in the voluminous literature on the subject towards conceptualising civil society through the theoretical lenses of Hegel, Marx and Gramsci. Civil society is primarily composed of organisations – such as religious institutions, charities, NGOs and INGOs, and a myriad of community groups – all of which are set up with overtly altruistic or moralistic ambitions. NGOs commonly advance a neo-liberal idea that the responsibility and solutions to social problems lie within the private and civil society spheres, leaving the poor with self-exploitation as the only option to meets their needs.
