Civil Society, Political Society and Democratization

The study of civil society and its role in the process of democratization is one that has undergone a number of revisions in the past two decades. Once lauded by scholars such as Robert Putnam as laboratories for democracy and developers of social capital, the promises of civil society went largely unrealized in the wake of the Third Wave. This paper contends that the role of civil society in the process of democratization is misunderstood because of the theoretical fuzziness surrounding the concept of civil society, and attempts to present political society - a crucial subset of civil society - as vital in a nation's attempt for a successful transition to democracy. It goes on to argue the theoretical strength of an approach centered on political society, and concludes with a description of the types of groups necessary for a successful transition to democracy.Master of Art