Unit 4: Civil Society, Democracy & Governance

Democracy and governance are two important concepts in the study of civil society building. Civil society shares specific relations with both democracy as well as governance. Such relations can be practical interventions like capacity building of Panchayati Raj Institutions in India or building increased human rights and justice awareness in Jamaica. CSOs can be involved with democracy and governance at the policy level as well. This could be done through monitoring the effects of previous policies or through enabling disenfranchised people to make their voices heard.
After completing this Unit you will be familiar with:

• What democracy means, what forms it takes, and the implications of such meanings and forms for civil society
• What governance means and its implications for civil society
• What actions CSOs take in order to strengthen democracy and make governance more inclusive at the levels of both practice and policy