Publication |
2009.
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Summary/Abstract |
Existing in a social space between the state and the market, civil society can be a site for both fragmentation and solidarity. While most civil society organisations (CSOs) claim to work towards a normative vision of social, economic or cultural development, they do not operate in an organisational vacuum divorced from socio-political reality. They can be representative of different interests and different identities of the people, but they can also play contradictory roles in the development process. The existence of a wide range of civil society organisations can indicate a vibrant democracy; however, if the competing visions of civil society organisations in different domains come into conflict with each other, situations of instability may arise.
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