Abstract:
While the title of this special issue suggests clarity, on closer scrutiny
the terms involved deserve some careful (re-)interpretation. Often associated
with a certain meaning and not further questioned, they actually
invite efforts to establish what they really mean for those using them. ‘Civil
society’, after all, remains a contentious, highly ambiguous, if not dubious
term, just as ‘development’ does. Even more so, in fact, if we consider more
recent discussions on a global civil society (Kaldor 2003; Kössler/Melber
1993, 2002; Löfgren/Thörn 2007). Like development, civil society has
manifold different meanings and interpretations. Suffice to say that civil
society agencies can be most uncivil, just like development can mean the
opposite to its positive connotation (cf. Heine/Thakur 2011). Hence, the
thematic focus of this guest-edited issue of JEP does not imply a straightforward
answer to the implicit question of whether the role of ‘civil society’
in promoting ‘development’ is a good or bad form of cooperation (cf. Melber 2014). This cautionary caveat refers also to the complexity of the
‘aidnography’ and furthermore to the motivations and experiences of those
engaged in various roles and locations within international development
cooperation (cf. White 2015). Our introduction presents a few more general
reflections on the subject, followed by a short summary presentation of the
contributions.
