Civil Society in Europe and Africa
Limiting State Power through a Public Sphere
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7556471 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dwayne Woods (0000-0002-7033-794X, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1992 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 77 |
| Publication date | 1992-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | African Studies Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-0206 • E-ISSN: 1555-2462 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/524871 |
| OpenAlex | W1968412192 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 36 |
| References cited | 44 |
The concept of civil society has gained currency in African studies. It is used in a variety of different ways, but usually refers to the emergence of new patterns of political participation outside of formal state structures and one-party systems (Bratton 1989, 407). In the absence of capable state institutions, the literature on Africa has started to shift attention away from the state and governing elites, and towards social actors who are devising various strategies to survive the nested crises of state action, economic development, and political legitimacy (Doornbos 1990). As an alternative conceptualization of possibilities of economic and social development, civil society is becoming an all encompassing term that refers to social phenomena putatively beyond formal state structures—but not necessarily free of all contact with the state. Virtually no theoretical work, however, has been done on the concept as it relates to an African environment, with the exception of Bayart (1986) and, more recently, Bratton (1989). This essay explores in a more theoretical manner than has hitherto been the case what such a notion means within an African context by asking whether the growing use of the term contributes substantively to our understanding of new forms of participation and associational activity in Africa. The answer is affirmative, provided that this concept is elaborated and specified in ways which take into account the complex interaction between normative, economic, and organizational dimensions of civil society
Civil society · Conceptualization · Context (archaeology · Economics · Law and economics · Legitimacy · Normative · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Public sphere · Sociology · State (computer science · Variety (cybernetics · African history and culture analysis · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Law · Religion, Society, and Development
Passage of Change
De Civiele Maatschappij
De Civiele Maatschappij
Escape from Tyranny
Revisiting international human rights treaties
Human Rights, the Rule of Law, and Development in Africa
A Bibliography of the Concept Offentlichkeit
Preparing the Grounds for a New Local Politics
Rebels and Robbers
Democratization
Civil Societies and Democratization
Revalorizing the Political
The Uneven Geography of Participation at the Global Level
Expanding ‘civil society’
Civil society, the state and democracy in Africa
Striving for “real” democracy in Africa
Making Civil Society from the Outside – Challenges for Donors
Civil Society Efficacy, Citizenship and Empowerment in Africa
The Sphere In-between
Economic Reform, Political Liberalization and Economic Ethnic Conflict in Kenya
A Class of Their Own
La globalisation de la sociologie en situation africaine
Confronting the classification problem
New directions in the political economy of development
Political transition and civil society
Perspectives on participation in economic policy reform in Africa
State and Society in Papua New Guinea
Civil society and democracy in the third world
Millennial Capitalism and the Culture of Neoliberalism
Millennial Capitalism
Civil society, democratization and development (I)
Civil society, democratization and development (II)
The Development of Civil Society in a Democratic State
A Social Movement for African Capitalism? A Comparison of Business Associations in Two African Cities
From Economic Crisis to Political Liberalization
South Africa's Civic Association Movement
Politics, culture, and class in the French Revolution
Democracy in America
Philosophy of Right
The Precarious Balance
Rethinking Military Politics
Fathers Work for Their Sons
Entrepreneurship
Civil society in Africa
The Great Transformation
West African urbanization
Citizenship and Social Class
Access to Power
The politics of representation and good government in post-colonial Africa
Political Domination in Africa
Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa
The structural transformation of the public sphere
Class and Civil Society
The State and Political Theory
Capitalism and Social Democracy
Ethnies et État en Côte-d'Ivoire
Observations on the Functions of Voluntary Associations, with Special Reference to West African Cities
Soviet Union
Fathers Work for Their Sons
African Peasantries, Reciprocity and the Market. The Economy of Affection Reconsidered
Sociologie des Brazzavilles noires
Dilemmas of Democratization in Latin America
The New Politics of Participation in Tropical Africa
Beyond the State
Developing Democracy When Civil Society Is Weak
West African Urbanization
The Road to Independence
La Cote d'ivoire dans la cite africaine
Liberal Democracy in Africa
The Social Basis of Constitutionalism in Africa
Class Formation in the Swollen African State
Afriques indociles
Studies in Power and Class in Africa
The African State in Academic Debate
Religious Movements and Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa
Preconditions and Limits in the Formation of Associations
Voluntary Associations in a Metropolis
The Precarious Balance
| Unique citing works | 36 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,09 |
| Citation span | 1993 - 2023 (31) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 33 |