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‘Civil Society’ and the Limits of Democratic Assistance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Ivelin Sardamov
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Abstract

A correlation between the strength of civil society and democratization is often assumed to imply a causal relationship between the two variables. In fact, this correlation may be spurious, both phenomena being shaped by deeper social processes related to modernization and individualization. An excessive focus on ‘civil society assistance’ may paradoxically hamper the deeper changes necessary for the development of a vigorous associational life and of democratic representation. It would therefore be more prudent to focus democratic assistance on the establishment of stable and efficient social and political institutions, and on the maintenance of key social infrastructures crucial to political legitimacy.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , 2005 , pp. 379 - 402
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2005.

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