The venerable concept of the civil society was resurrected from oblivion in the 1990s and has enjoyed great popularity since. The term hails from classical European philosophy, namely, from Aristotle’s use of the phrase koinōnia politikḗ (Lat. societas civilis) for the Athenian city state’s citizenry. Its meaning perfectly illustrates what the polis in essence was: a community of citizens, united in their efforts of fostering the good— that is, virtuous and prosperous— life (eudaimonia). Our own understanding of civil society goes back to the separation of state and society in early modernity. The first genuinely modern theories of civil society were those of Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu, followed by Hegel and Scottish enlightenment thinkers like Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson.

Today, politicians and movements of all convictions invoke the term. Some associate “civil society” with radical political reform, with strengthening democratic self-rule and restraining the power of both governments and markets to infringe on individual liberties. Others use it to stress the idea that people should act on their own responsibility, for example, no longer rely on welfare benefits. Others yet mobilize the concept when deploring the undemocratic suppression of oppositional forces in countries like Russia or Turkey. All these uses of the term are politically motivated: the good form of societal organization that “civil society” is meant to designate is always contrasted to what is deemed its opposite, and what characterizes the latter, a “bad” form of society, differs according to political beliefs: the egoistical pursuit of self-interest in capitalist markets, authoritarianism, quietism, apathy, or dependence on the welfare state. Descriptions, judgments, and visions for the future apparently mix in the concept of civil society, as do scientificity and political ideals. It is this ambiguity that makes it somewhat fuzzy and quite fascinating at the same time.

One aspect of civil society that scholars disagree on is whether or not it should include the economy (Adloff and Kocka, 2016). Economic liberals and conservatives in the Lockean tradition are inclined to stress economic self-responsibility and argue in favor of a clear separation of state and society: the state, they believe, needs to keep its nose out of individual lives, private economic endeavors, and the societal sphere.