The Impact of Civil Society on Sustainable Development

Abstract

The labels “civil society organization” (CSO) or “civil society actor” tend to have positive connotations in much of research and political debate. This is especially the case in the context of sustainable development, where civil society participation is frequently assumed to have a positive impact on sustainability-related policy outputs. This chapter argues that the generally positive perception of CSOs in sustainable development contexts is a function of the sectoral and/or utopian logics, which underlie most conceptualizations of civil society, and highlights the limitations of these logics. It postulates that an analytical and reflective perspective on CSOs requires their classification on the basis of a reconstructive analysis of interest representation with respect to a specific policy issue and cautions against too easily attributing certain normative values to so-called civil society actors and participation. The chapter supports this claim with an illustration of CSO participation in the German debate on extending the operating lifetime of nuclear power plants.