Plain-language explanation.
Civil society encompasses the organisations and associations that exist between the state, the market, and the family. Social movements study collective action for political change. Together they examine how non-governmental actors shape democracy, governance, and social change.
Core concepts and standard treatment.
Core civil society and social movements covers civil society theory (Tocqueville — Democracy in America — voluntary associations as school of democracy; Hegel — civil society between family and state; Gramsci — civil society as terrain of hegemony — organic intellectuals; Habermas — public sphere — rational-critical discourse — structural transformation; Putnam — social capital — Bowling Alone — decline of civic participation in US — bridging vs bonding social capital; Cohen and Arato — civil society between state and economy — associational revolution), collective action theory (Olson — Logic of Collective Action — free-rider problem — selective incentives — by-product theory; Hardin — tragedy of the commons; Ostrom — governing the commons — design principles for CPR institutions; framing theory — Snow and Benford — frame alignment — diagnostic, prognostic, motivational framing; resource mobilisation theory — McCarthy and Zald — organisations, money, and networks for movements; political opportunity structure — Tarrow — cycles of contention), and social movement theory (new social movements — post-material — Touraine — Melucci — identity politics; repertoires of contention — Tilly — claim-making; contentious politics — Tilly, Tarrow, McAdam — dynamics of contention; WUNC — worthiness, unity, numbers, commitment — social movement performance).
Deeper theory, debates and edge cases.
Advanced civil society covers transnational advocacy networks (Keck and Sikkink — Activists Beyond Borders — TANs — boomerang model — naming and shaming; international human rights movement — Amnesty International; transnational anti-apartheid movement; global justice movement — World Social Forum — Seattle 1999 WTO protests; Occupy Wall Street — leaderless horizontal movements; climate activism — Extinction Rebellion — Fridays for Future — Greta Thunberg — civil disobedience theory), digital activism and the networked public sphere (Shirky — Here Comes Everybody — networked social movements; Castells — Networks of Outrage and Hope — Arab Spring; Bennett and Segerberg — connective action — personalised political expression vs collective action frames; Twitter revolutions critique — Gladwell — slacktivism; filter bubbles — Pariser; Counter-movements and backlash — authoritarian learning from protest), and the third sector and NPM (third sector — voluntary, community, and social enterprise — VCSE sector; charity law — Charities Act 2022 — Charity Commission — public benefit test; CIO — charitable incorporated organisation; Social Value Act 2012 — public procurement; social enterprise — CIC — community interest company; Social Impact Bonds — SIB — payment by results — Big Society Capital; NCVO data — UK civil society almanac; shrinking civic space — CIVICUS monitor).
How it is applied in practice.
At the civil society researcher and NGO director level, practitioners contribute to Voluntas and Social Movement Studies; lead major NGO programmes (Oxfam GB — influencing department — CARE International — Save the Children UK — governance and accountability; Amnesty International UK section — strategic litigation — campaigning; Friends of the Earth — judicial review — UK climate litigation — Heathrow Airport expansion; WWF UK — nature policy — 30x30 advocacy); advise on civil society policy (DCMS Office for Civil Society — VCSE Crown Representative; NCVO and ACEVO membership bodies; compact between government and voluntary sector; Community Wealth Building — Preston Model — anchor institutions; participatory budgeting — Porto Alegre model — Participatory City Foundation London); contribute to democracy and civic space (Dahl — conditions for democracy — freedom of expression and organisation; V-Dem civil society index; CIVICUS Monitor — civic space closures — Russia, Belarus, Hong Kong NGO law; Foreign Agents Legislation — Russia's Foreign Agents Law; UK Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 — protest restrictions — civil liberties debate); and lead digital democracy innovations (DemocracyOS — Agora — online deliberative tools; Pol.is — machine learning crowd-sourced consensus finding — Taiwan vTaiwan; Decidim — Barcelona participatory platform — open-source civic engagement; mySociety — TheyWorkForYou — FixMyStreet — civic tech; GovTech Catalyst UK).