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"From food banks to migrant welcome committees, and community organisers to internet based campaigners, civil society is central to the North Atlantic social landscape. Theology and Civil Society advances our understanding of what civil society is and offers a theologically informed re-imagining of our shared social life. Prefaced by a foreword by the Rev. Dr Rowan Williams, this book explores contemporary manifestations of the kind of collective action observed in civil society since the 1800s. It then examines civil society as the sum of modern associations which mediate our relationships to the market and the state, but which cannot be identified fully with either the market or the state. Finally, three different perspectives on civil society are presented using insights from theologians such as John Milbank and Georg Hegel. This is a pertinent topic for contemporary society, and it is explored expertly here by an international panel of contributors. As such, it is an important volume for any scholar of Theology and Religious Studies and their interactions with Sociology and Politics."--Provided by publisher.

Abstract:
Despite the apparent stability of the Castro dictatorship, an internal movement of civic resistance has gradually been gaining strength in Cuba. Opposition organizations as the Varela Project and the Women in White have undertaken important initiatives, and some 3,000 actions of protest and non-cooperation take place every year, mostly in the provinces of eastern and central Cuba. Alienated youth, marginalized non-whites, and oppressed workers represent three potentially explosive sources of cleavage and discontent. By reviving the democratic nationalism associated with the tradition of José Martí, the Cuban movement will be an important factor shaping the future of the country.

The opposition within Cuba has become more diverse as well as more unified, and the regime, despite its enduring capacity for repression, is showing signs of underlying weakness.

The sixth article, 'Civil Society: What Next'? by Goran Hyden, deals with the increasingly important role of civil society in today's world, with particular reference to the field of development. In the wake of the structural political transformations of the past two or three decades -- notably, the 'rolling back' of state capacities & the reinforcement of corporate power -- civil society has emerged into a position of central importance. In the area of development, civil society initiatives have been given prominence as alternatives to, what has been perceived as, a failed development agenda largely driven by top-down state-planning &, later, free-market policy. To help clear up the conceptual confusion surrounding the term civil society, Hyden first traces its historical-political roots. In the face of the increasing influence of neo-liberal economic policies & the skewed nature of the global economic system, he writes, many civil society organisations (CSOs) 'see themselves increasingly in opposition . above all to corporate capital'. In their endeavour to redress the imbalances of the global order & move beyond mere critique, 'global justice' organisations face a number of challenges: to seek to exert influence in established & new sites of action, to pursue reactive & proactive work, & to grapple simultaneously with local, national as well as global political contexts. Perhaps the most demanding task facing CSOs, in Hyden's view, is 'to make the poor part of a solidarity movement, in which they are not just pawns but autonomous actors'. To do this, he says, CSOs must increasingly engage in integrating activist work with continuous self-reflection & analysis regarding methods, tactics & possibilities for increasing civil society cooperation. Tables. Adapted from the source document.

Civil society is analysed from an organizational perspective. Many ideas about the quality of interaction in civil society are similar to ideas about how to create excellent organizations. Although there is no clear definition of civil society, it is first of all understood in contrast to the state. Organizational forms mentioned in connexion with civil society, such as voluntary associations, new social movements and networks, are analysed. None, however, has proved to be without restrictions inherent in all organizations. The quality of civil society cannot exceed the quality of its organizational forms. I conclude that the structures of civil society are not persistent. Civil society exists through the coincidence of several processes in the interaction between people and organizations, and the notion of civil society is not more incompatible with the state than with other organizational arrangements. On the other hand, there are no organizational forms to assure a permanent establishment of civil society.