Neoliberalism and the Forms of Civil Society in Kenya and South Africa

Abstract

Historically, politics and the economy have coproduced civil society. The type or nature of a state is also determined by complex interactions of social, economic and political forces in a society, which in turn, determines the type and functions of different forms of civil society. But how have interactions of politics and free-market ideology shaped the nature of contemporary civil society, its functions, as well as spaces for engagement in Kenyan and South African policy spaces? This chapter attempts to answer this question, primarily by arguing that the dominant neoliberal economic model has led to the emergence of two key forms of contemporary civil society in Kenya and South Africa. These are a dominant civil society that abets neoliberalism and a counter-movement type of civil society. It is further argued that a third form of civil society—a service delivery oriented civil society—is also manifested and serves as a stabilizing and pacifying force on society, thus perpetuating and consolidating the status and conditions for the hegemony of the free market.