The intention with the research was to investigate the role of Civil society in the Kenyan democratization process. The research intends thus to analyze (1) the role of Civil society in Kenya's transition to democracy (1990- 2002), and (2) the role of Civil society in the further democratization process (2002- 2013).The results of the research demonstrates that the role of Civil society played a crucial role in Kenya?s transition to democracy given that Civil society provided with a multiparty- system in 1991. In addition, Civil society endowed with education for citizens in order to attain constitutional reforms. As a result, Kenya accomplished a transition to democracy in 2002.

When Sweden acceded to the European Union in 1995 the term social economy was introduced to the Swedish context, gradually replacing the term Civil society. This replacement can be seen as an indicator of a changing meaning of what the concept of Civil society used to stand for.The aim of this essay is to study if it is possible to identify changing perceptions of the role of Civil society for democracy in Sweden in government bills between 2002 and 2008, and, if so, what effect does this have on the delineation between the Civil society and the government.An analytical model is proposed consisting of two dimensions which both capture the roles of Civil society for democracy and the model examines how those roles relate to the government.The conclusion is that the government still sees the main function of Civil society as a democratic school and a change agent for democracy. However, there is strong evidence to suggest that the Civil society is increasingly regarded as more of a welfare producer than a fosterer of democracy..

Based on an analytical overview of post-Communist Civil society development in Russia, the present thesis attempts a critical discussion of general Civil society theory from the perspective of its relevance for the case study in question. The text consists of three closely interconnected, mutually reinforcing parts. In the first part, major issues of current Civil society research are being thematically presented and discussed. The second part concerns itself with the case study as such. It is divided into two parts, one dealing with the relations between state and Civil society in Russia, the other with Civil society and the individual.

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union a lot of hope has been put on Civil society to help develop Russia into a more democratic society. This study explores the constructive elements in the relationship between Civil society and the state in Russia, and how this enables the work toward political development. By using Julie Fishers theory about political development and organisational autonomy I discuss the varying and often complex ways in which Civil society and the state interacts. These are often not mentioned in the liberal tradition, which believes that Civil society's most important democratic function is to act as a watchdog for the state.There is very limited political space for NGO's in authoritative Russia. The existing oppositional NGO's are important for the political development, but they are few and their impacts on society are limited.

Tanzania is today one of the greatest aid recipients in the world, but still - after over 45 years of huge amounts of aid - one of the poorest and least developed countries. How can that be? Civil society is said to benefit the democratization process, but has not succeed in Tanzania. Has the extensive aid had any impact? Our purpose is to investigate this set of problems.We are using theories concerning Civil society and aid in general, and the theoretical framework developed by Hadenius and Uggla ?Making Civil society Work, Promoting Democratic Development: What Can States and Donors Do??, in particular.

Essay in political science, D-level by Lisa Kringsberg, spring semester 2008.Tutor: Michele Micheletti.?Civil society in Singapore? can it make democratization possible?The third wave of democratization and the end of the cold war has together increased the interest of the Civil society as an impact on democratization. Singapore is a country which is higly-developt in both the socie-economic and economic field. Dispate this Singapore has not yet achieved to become a democratic state. The purpose of this essay is to study how the Civil society can affect democracy in a country.

This Bachelor Thesis looks at the cooperation between the Swedish Civil society and theEuropean Union (EU), and it aims at evaluating Swedish Civil society organizations' influencewithin the EU's development work on policy level. It focuses primarily on eight Civil societyorganizations, and it is based on empirical material collected in Stockholm and Gothenburg,Sweden. The material has been analyzed using three theoretical frameworks. The firstdetermines whether the structure of the EU allows bottom-up influence, the second looks atthe communication between the EU and Civil society organizations, and the third assesseswhether the Civil society has the ability to influence the political agenda within the EU?sdevelopment work.Conclusions of the thesis include determining the complex structure of the EU as a mainobstacle to influencing the EU's development work.

The three post-communist states - Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine ? have gone different ways in terms of freedom and democracy since the breakdown of the Soviet Union 1991. During these years, the state and the Civil society have been fundamental actors in the struggle against, and even for, authoritarianism.A strong state with great capacity in Belarus has undermined the chances for the Civil society to fulfil its task as a watchdog of the state and link between the citizens and the government.Failed authoritarianism in Moldova has led to a situation where both the state and the Civil society are weak. The major problem is lack of organization and cohesion; both the state and the Civil society have often been divided by ethnical differences and are therefore not strong enough to promote democracy.In Ukraine, the dominance of a strong state ended in 2004 when the Orange Revolution took place, sometimes called a ?peak of democracy? where popular mobilization and protests succeeded in it's opposition against the state.

This essay revolves around partnerships established between local authorities and Civil society to promote integration in segregated urban areas. The main focus is on who is active in formulating the local integration policy in these partnerships. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews with representatives from the local public administration and from different parts of Civil society in Rosengård and Södra innerstaden in Malmö. The conclusion is that local authorities to a large extent decide the content of integration policy. The authorities, in having the major responsibility of the integration projects, decide what parts of Civil society to involve and what projects will promote integration.

The current trend towards globalisation and democratisation has made the theories of politics in pluralistic societies, and how to make them work, of particular interest and concern. Lijphart's theory of consociational democracy is an important influence in this field. At the same time the importance of Civil society in transition studies and democratisation processes has been reinforced over the last thirty years. However, the complex political situation that plural societies face, creates obstacles for a healthy Civil society. This thesis is based on a case study of Lebanon, a country with deep ethnic divisions and a government that resembles a consociational democracy.

Using Varshney's theory about intra- and interethnic networks, this thesis examines how Civil society in southern Thailand is built up.During 2004 the violence between Muslims and Buddhists rose in southern Thailand. The government tried to fight the insurgency using violent police and military forces, resulting in hundreds of deaths and part of reason why Thailand is loosing rank in Freedom House's democracy index. Varshney means that a Civil society built up on intraethnic networks works favourable to violence between different ethnic groups. Sorting out and defining what is meant by ?ethnic? and ?Civil society?, this thesis shows why to look at the insurgency in southern Thailand as an ethnic conflict surviving partly because of an intraethnic Civil society.

Civil disobedience constitutes an interesting ethical phenomena in the democraticstate since the people performing it consciously brakes laws and norms in societyfor purposes they themselves judge to be morally good and just. This thesisexamines whether the phenomena of civil disobedience is justifiable in ademocratic society.In this study civil disobedience is analyzed on two levels. First the problem isanalyzed on a theoretical level in relative to the three, by us established, values:respect for the law, the will of the majority and equality. Second, civildisobedience is analyzed on a more practical level where we test our theoreticalline of argument with the help of two example groups who engages in civildisobedience. The justification of civil disobedience is also analyzed through twoethical perspectives on acting, deontology and consequentialism.Our conclusion is that civil disobedience is justifiable on a theoretical level inrelative to the values we discuss.

This study analyzes how Civil society contributes to the democratic development in a Nicaragua governed by the sandinist party FSLN. The empirical focus lays at the relationship between state and the Civil society. By using a conceptual framework outlined by Caroline Boussard, the Civil society is being analyzed as an actor with a democracy-building potential that is supported or constrained by a political context.The Civil society is divided between traditional social movement and more newly borned NGOs. Social movements tend to approach the government comparatively to NGOs, which adopt a highly critical attitude. In contrast to NGOs, the traditional social movements are improving their democratic functions as a counterpart while NGOs confine its democratic potential to an agenda setter drawing attention to democratic deficits.

The Swedish society and welfare model are under constant changes anddevelopment. One of the core areas in this welfare model is the social policy. By analysing the changing role of the organizations in the Civil society on a local level with a theoretical typology changes in the roles can be noted. These changes can with a model for ideal types raice questions about bigger changes concerning issues of legitimacy and accountablility. I uses qualitative method including interviews with actors on the local level, earlier reseach in the field and public documents.

The process of economic globalization has in recent decades increased the power of multinational corporations. In recognition of their powerful position, corporations have begun to adopt Corporate Social Responsibility as a way of managing their social impact. Their interaction with the surrounding society reaches a peak when involved in large-scale projects, such as the Three Gorges Dam in China and the Narmada Valley Development Project in India. This essay analyses the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility in a comparative study between the two cases. By using current research, it focuses on the role of Civil society for making Corporate Social Responsibility effective in developing countries.