Civil Society as a Subject of Political Science: Classical Interpretations and Institutional-Network Vision

Abstract

The article is devoted to defining the theoretical framework of political science research on civil society in the context of the latest challenges to democratic development. Thus, any practical study of civil society is impossible without a pre-formed idea of its essence: what is civil society and what are its boundaries. These questions are especially important in the context of the crisis of liberal democracy, when civil society is actively imitated, co-opted and discredited by authoritarian and populist political actors. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to critically analyse the dominant interpretations of civil society in political science and to develop a new theoretical vision that will allow for a nuanced analysis of the dynamics between civil society and other political actors.

Methods. The comparative method was used to identify the differences between different interpretations of civil society in political science, which allowed us to understand their advantages and disadvantages in conducting political science research on civil society. The historical method was used to outline the key stages of development of the civil society concept. The systematic method was used to identify three key components of the political science concept of civil society. The author's approach was substantiated by institutional analysis, which allowed the study to be integrated into the broader context of political regimes and their interaction with civil society.

Results. The two main approaches used in political science to study civil society — normative and empirical — are characterised, and the historical dynamics of their development is outlined. It is demonstrated that the normative approach, which is based on an idealised vision of civil society, classifies its hybrid manifestations as separate phenomena, which does not allow to study civil society in dynamics, while the empirical approach, which abandons the criterion of civility, leads to the deconstruction of the concept of civil society. It is established that the political science understanding of civil society is based on three components: associativity, civility, non-state and non-business character. As a result, the article proposes an institutional-network vision for the study of co-opted civil society, which emphasises the dual nature of civil society as a civil space generated by institutions and as a network of voluntary associations operating in this space.