Civil Society Reconsidered

Abstract

At the heart of the present study is a critique of the much heralded and widespread association that has been made in the last decade between strong civil societies and sustainable democracies. In particular, I have relied upon the experiences of Spain and Brazil to challenge the assumption that a vibrant and robust landscape of voluntary associations is a precondition or must-have for nations seeking to consolidate democratic governance. The case of Spain convincingly illustrates the point that a deficit in civil society development is not a handicap to the successful consolidation of democracy while the case of Brazil suggests that democratic consolidation is not guaranteed when it faces a vigorous civil society. The cases of Spain and Brazil have also been enlisted to reconsider some of the central theoretical assumptions underlying the presumed importance of a strong civil society to democratic consolidation. Above all, I have sought to locate the formation of social capital, that subjective phenomenon comprising a range of values, attitudes and behaviors believed to lubricate democracy, within the constitu-tion and performance of political institutions rather than the configuration of civil society. Although provocative, the view of civil society as the exclusive domain of the production of social capital neglects to take into account the role of the political system in engendering and undermining the nrincioal comnonents of social cadital.