Abstract
This chapter analyzes the roles and functions of civil society in protecting and fostering a democratic culture and human rights in Iraq since the US-led military intervention in the country in 2003. It develops an analytical framework for the case-study. The chapter deals with the definition of civil society, its functions of promoting a democratic culture and human rights, the specific features determining the potential of civil society organizations (CSOs) to do this, and determinants contributing to the dark side of civil society. The important areas in which CSOs exercise their controlling function are those of elections and human rights. The educational and socializing function of civil society has its theoretical roots in Alexis de Tocqueville’s famous reflections on nineteenth-century American democracy. Tocqueville refers to civil society as a ‘school of democracy’ and says that through participation in civil society, citizens develop civic virtues such as trust, tolerance, honesty, reliability, reciprocity.
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