POLS 102 Lecture 15: Political science - Notes 8 march
Document Summary
Ch 12 civil society, interest groups, and the media. Civil society has been defined (by robertson) as the framework within which those without political authority live their lives economic relationships, family and kinship structures, religious institutions and so on. It is a purely analytic concept because civil society does not exist independently of political authority, nor vice versa, and neither could long continue without the other; as such no clear boundary can be drawn between the two. Although originally used in the late 18th century, the term civil society has become more popular recently because of its perceived role in effecting political change in a number of states. Typically these were countries where opposition parties were suppressed, and at times of regime crisis ordinary people rose up in spontaneous protest. Examples are the philippines (1986), south korea (1987), and the succession of revolts, which put an end to communism in eastern europe by 1991.
