Civil Society in Democratization

by Peter Burnell (Editor), Peter Calvert (Editor)

This title brings together competing theories of civil society with critical studies of the role of civil society in diverse situations and the way in which it has been promoted as the key to democratization. The combination of contemporary theory and practical applications provides valuable reading for students of civil society and contemporary social and political change, and its policy implications for Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 31, 2004

About the author

Peter Burnell is a Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick. He was educated at the University of Bristol and University of Warwick. His long established research interests are in democratization, the political economy of foreign aid, and politics and policy in Zambia, in total comprising eleven books including three single-authored monographs, over thirty articles in refereed journals and many chapters in edited collections. He is a founding editor of the international journal Democratization. A present research focus is a critical examination of how standard conceptions of democracy are being diffused globally through networks of democracy promotion actors based mainly in the West. Another examines the political drivers of international assistance to developing regions against a backdrop of competing, sometimes contradictory policy objectives and theories of economic, social and political change.