Sivil toplumun sinirlari: din de direnis

Civil society is supposed to the source of freedom and democracy. Here individuals may express their opinions, freely gather and organise, pursue their wishes, hopes and dreams – outside the control of the state. In recent decades, many have evoked civil society in this way: the opposition movements against socialist governments in Eastern Europe during the 1980s; the supposed source of “democracy” in “totalitarian’ China; the Arab “spring”; the means for achieving global environmental action. Civil society is thus regarded as an irrepressible good, which cannot be questioned. Or rather, if questions are raised they concern the ways that civil society may be adapted to include new voices. This is particularly the case with the renewed presence of religion in global politics