№ 2 - 2012
Lane D.
World Politics and Its Prognostic Indicators

The paper examines the significance of “civil society” promotion as a component of the new modes of governance proposed within the EU and its member states. “Civil society” is analysed as a form of political coordination under capitalism; as a reform ideology in the process of opposition under communism; as a policy legitimising democratisation; and as an ideological component of neo-liberalism in the enlargement of the European Union. The paper proposes a model distinguishing the different roles played by ‘civil society’ discourse in the transformation of state socialism.