Retrieving civil society in a postmodern epoch

Towards a Global Civil Society

Civil Society in a Globalizing World

What role can social movements and civil society play in promoting transformative development in the global South? This paper argues that inclusive and democratic forms of development depend on a delicate balance between the market, the state and civil society. Globalization has created new opportunities for economic development, but market power has often expanded at the expense of democratic ...

Civil society in a divided society: Linking legitimacy and ethnicness of civil society organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Civil society (CS) strengthening is central to peacebuilding policies for divided, post-war societies. However, it has been criticized for creating internationalized organizations without local backing, unable to represent citizens' interests. Based on in-depth empirical research in Bosnia-Herzegovina, this article focuses on the legitimacy of CS organizations (CSOs). It explores why legitimacy...

Representative democracy and information society - A postmodern perspective

Representation is a key concept for parliamentary democracy. It is, however, a broader concept than is commonly believed. Representative democracy has a fourfold meaning. First, representative democracy is a depiction of the people’s will. Secondly, it is a process of deliberation and negotiation. Thirdly, representative democracy is the institutional linking mechanism between political power a...

A civil society briefing on Geoengineering

The notion of geoengineering the climate has been around for well over a century. Until recently, it was mostly discussed as a proposed military tool to control the weather for hostile purposes. With the onset of the growing climate crisis, the spectrum of geoengineering proposals has increased, and today, public debate about geoengineering explores whether it is a means to combat climate chang...