INDEV100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Civil Society, Participatory Politics, Social Forces

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: International Development
• Course: INDEV100
• Professor: Prateep Kumar Nayak

Document Summary

The idea of civil society is associated with democratization processes in the developing world. It is also associated with the provision of goods and services that were traditionally the preserve of the state. The civil society discourse reflects three different traditions: liberal tradition: Liberal tradition identifies civil society as a form of fostering participatory politics and democratic governance (political development). This includes the principles of citizenship, rights, democratic representation and rule of law: sociological tradition: This identifies civil society as a counter-hegemonic bloc of social forces and repository of popular resistance to government policy and class power: developmental tradition: This reflects civil society as an agency for empowering and participatory development, and agent in the war against poverty. This is organised groups operating somewhere between the state on one hand, and the realm of the family and the individual on the other. These are desirable project embodying certain aspirations about the organisation of modern society.