1. Civil Society seems to be at the center of attention in this Knowledge Programme: what is understood by it?Despite its presumed origin within Western political thinking, a clear and consensual definition of what civil society is does not exist. Following Biekart, ‘civil society in its modern conception primarily refers to citizenship and to a distinct ‘societal public sphere’ of social relations between the family and the state. Civil society can be defined as ‘the zone of voluntary associ...
