Internationale Konferenz zur Zivilgesellschaft

 

What is and is not civil society? What kind of components does civil society encompass? Are civil society organizations distinctive new phenomena, or do they merely reflect a repackaged form of more familiar organizations? To what extent is the bourdary of civil society cemercated within the democratic political system? What kind of role can or should civil society organizations play within the democratic system?

No social scientific concept seems to be more complicated and controversial than civil society, and no other political concept has undergone more reformulations and reconfigurations. The resurgence of a civil society discourse in the last decades in general, and the acceleration of civil society's visibility after the transformation of the Eastern European Systems in particular, have made the scientific investigation of the questions anumerated above a task as urgent and topical as ever.

Following th inaugurating conference in 2009, this year's second gathering aims to deepen the debate where it left off last year and, at the same time, to break new ground by considering civil society within the democratic system and, above all, mapping out the "politicity" of civil society from a new theoretical perspective.

For more information on the conference click HERE