The changing role of civil society in the Euro-Mediterranean area

Abstract

Given the prevalence of references to ‘civil society’ in much of the literature and policy fora concerning Euro-Mediterranean relations, it would be a mistake to think that the term has any fixed or universally accepted meaning. Even where it is loosely used to mean ‘non-state actors’ or the interests of broader society, the notion of civil society continues to be fluid and differently interpreted even in mature democracies. Europeans, for example, are often struck by the use by American academics and non-state actors of the inclusive vocabulary of ‘we’ when talking about the actions of the US government. In the UK, at least, the distinction between those directly in the employment of the state (namely, the civil service, public sector and government officials) and those who are independent of the state is more usually reflected in maintaining a distance between ‘us’ and ‘them’ in discussions about government policy and what public opinion expects of it.