Questioning civil society / La sociedad civil en cuestión

Abstract

After the end of the Cold War, the notion of civil society has become part of the scientific discourse, the media discourse as well as the discourse of international organizations. And it has done so despite having different meanings. Indeed, the concept of civil society may refer to the actor of a protest, the project of a mobilization, the open up of a political system dealing with a problem of representation. In other cases, it may also refer to political actors, socio-economic agents, associations or labour unions. In any case, it appears as an ambiguous concept, plural and poorly defined. The aim of this article is to highlight the long historical course of this notion, from the former times and its link to civilization, the modern times and its perceptions as a counter-power, to the contemporary period in which this notion is identified with the third sector. Nowadays, civil society is related to problems of citizenship, citizen participation and public space. Lastly, it poses a fundamental question in all continents, as a consequence of the new information and communication technologies and the globalization of commercial exchanges: is there an international civil society?

Keywords

• Civil society
• third sector
• citizenship
• participation
• mobilization