Dreams of Civil Society Two Decades Later: Civic Advocacy in the Czech Republic
Dreams of Civil Society Two Decades Later: Civic Advocacy in the Czech Republic

Author(s): Jiří Navrátil, Miroslav POSPÍŠIL
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, History, Civil Society, Economic history, Political history, Social history, Recent History (1900 till today), Special Historiographies:, Government/Political systems, Politics and society, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), History of Communism
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Civil society; Czech Republic; Non-democratic regimes; Slow emancipation; 1989; Legal environments; CSO;
Summary/Abstract: This study focuses on the key aspects of Czech civil society two decades after the revolution of 1989. More particularly, we explore a particular function of civil society – the political, representative, contentious, or advocacy function – and deliberately leave aside the others. In other words, we stress the “political” sense of the concept of civil society that was proposed and developed by many thinkers (for overview see Keane 1998; Cohen, Arato 1999; Kaldor 2003). This study acknowledges that the concept is inextricably linked to the notion of political order or democracy and that its political dimensionis a key aspect that distinguishes this social sphere from the state, family, or economy. Some of the contemporary normative perspectives on civil society propose an ideal type of civil sphere that prevents the powers of the state and the market from invading the lives of citizens (e.g., Habermas, Skocpol, Ehrenberg).

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