Civil society, cooperation and development

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.