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The article attempts to analyze the conceptual foundations of the study of civil society (theoretical and methodological foundations) comprehensively in order to generalize research material on this subject. Different approaches to the concept and phenomenon of civil society in the historical context of their formation are analyzed and systematized. Taking into account complex content and the form of a civil society as a subject of research, the author offers an approach to its analysis, providing three dimensions of the study: a theoretical; a historical; and a practical one. The emphasis is on the importance of the economic component in the emergence of the phenomenon of a civil society in the socio-political reality and the significance of changes in the economic realm to update goals and objectives, as well as the structure of a civil society.
Contemporary investigation of civil society involves research of information technologies that affect the level of openness and mobility of any knowledge and information; globalization processes that shape the new economic landscape of the world and, therefore, become the subject of civil society due to inevitable social-economic conflicts and contradictions; migration processes that affect the value system of both migrants and settled population, which leads to the formation of completely new subjects and objects of influence of civil society; ecological problems, which do not have a pronounced nationality and directly affect humanity as a whole, which leads to the emergence of international environmental movements.
A separate problem in considering the theory of civil society is the level of personal interactions in modern conditions. The emergence of planetary problems and, accordingly, the interests of people allow distinguishing three levels of social relations, which have their own characteristics and directly affect the approaches to the implementation of civil society. Such levels are local level of interrelations (within the framework of separate communities, professional or cultural communities); national level of interrelations (at the state level or interstate regional interrelations); supranational level of interrelations (environmental issues, war and peace issues, disarmament, etc.).
Keywords: Civil society, capitalism, labor market, mass movements, economic inequality, justice, conflict of interests, institutionalization

Until recently, the European Union tended to view violent mass conflicts predominantly through the lens of negotiations between conflict leaders and powerful external actors. Today, the EU has begun to recognize the imperative of understanding and influencing developments on the ground in conflict situations by engaging with local civil society. The European Union, Civil Society and Conflict explores the EU's relations with civil society organizations at the local level, in an effort to improve the effectiveness and relevance of its conflict and peace strategies. Looking in particular at the eastern and southern neighbourhoods, the volume analyses five case studies of EU and local civil society interaction in: Georgia & Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Moldova & Transnistria, Israel & Palestine and Morocco & Western Sahara. Through the comparative examination of these cases, this volume draws broad policy guidelines tailored to governmental and non-governmental action. Exploring the impact of the European Union in conflicts beyond its borders through its engagement with civil society, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of the EU, civil society and conflict.

This article starts with basic information about historical developments and circumstances concerning Serbia as a country still in the process of transition. Media restructuring is explained from the point of view of an activist who has been fighting for civil society media both in
research and practice. The process of transition that is taking place in Serbia is a good opportunity for an attempt to establish a third media sector. However, this endeavour has been unsuccessful so far because most media organizations restructuring from government monopoly have chosen the
commercial privatization option, even though civil society media are a legally sanctioned and recognized option. This article presents results that are far from optimistic. The main part of the article is dedicated to reasons that explain how a specific type of broadcasting media has been
prevented from growing in Serbia. The civil society media model was, and still is, a blind spot of media transition. It is ignored in the political sphere, and the public is not properly informed about it. Journalists are not keen to try media restructuring in the direction of civil society
media either, as a survey of their opinions and attitudes shows. The survey indicates that professional journalists also have poor knowledge about civil society media as an alternative to privatization. Consequently, they did not attempt to make use of civil society media legislation in the
restructuring of their own media organizations. An encouraging finding of the survey was that working journalists are aware, in principle, of the liberating and participatory potential of people's media. It seems that only the rise of civil society in Serbia can create the societal conditions
in which civil society media can graduate from hope to reality.

"This chapter investigates the role of civil society actors in conflict transformation and peacebuilding. Some of the questions addressed are: what types of activities do international and transnational NGOs undertake in order to influence international politics in a way that contributes to coping with global challenges? What are the strengths and limitations of these actors? What is the role and potential of (local) civil society actors in war-to-peace transitions? What problems and dilemmas stem from the development of civil society in war-torn societies? How do civil society's contributions relate to state-building? By way of elaborating these questions, section 2 gives a general overview of NGO activities at the international and regional level. Section 3 presents assessments of their roles, impact and legitimacy. Section 4 addresses the contributions of civil society to post-conflict peacebuilding, with specific reference to the experience in the Balkans, looking at the war-torn society of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Section 5 investigates the theoretical implications and contextualizes the development of civil society in relation to state-building. Section 6, finally, presents conclusions and policy recommendations and proposes topics for further research." (excerpt)

"Is there an alternative to neoliberal globalization? Many argue that global civil society is where the counterforce to neoliberal globalization is to be found. For them global civil society is a reformist force, one that will develop into a global movement, correct the distortions of the global governance system, and tame the rampant manifestations of neoliberal globalization. To be able to do this, according to Gramscian conceptions of civil society and hegemony, it needs to form a counter-hegemonic historic bloc: a cohesive and all-inclusive organization of all the interests, constituencies, issues and audiences that are affected by neoliberal globalization. Only when such a network is in existence, civil society may be able to engage successfully in significant social change at the global level, and challenge the hegemony of the neoliberal credo. Is global civil society up to the challenge? To fully answer this, one needs to address three main questions: (1) Can the current structure of global civil society foster the emergence of this historic bloc? Is the structure of the global network of civil society actors, most notably international NGOs (INGOS) conducive to the emergence of a well-integrated and all-inclusive global movement? (2) Will the nascent global movement adopt a reformist counter-hegemonic ideology? (3) Will it manage to mobilize this global network and translate ideology into agency? I focus here on the first of these questions. Through an analysis of interorganizational links between a large number of INGOS, I examine the structure of this global network, and whether it is compatible with the prerequisites for the development of the counter-hegemonic historic bloc stipulated in Gramscian thought. In conclusion, I suggest a few strategic steps to increase the counter-hegemonic potential of global civil society." (author's abstract)