Authors: Putnam, R. D.
Overview
The importance of a strong and active civil society to democracy consolidation is emphasized by many students of the new democracies emerging over the past decade and a half. Particularly concerning the postcommunist countries, both scholars and democratic activists have lamented the absence or obliteration of independent civic engagement traditions and a widespread tendency towards passive reliance on the state. The advanced Western democracies, particularly the United States, have typically been seen as models to emulate by those concerned with weak civil societies in developing or postcommunist nations. However, there is striking evidence that the vibrancy of American civil society has notably declined over the past several decades. Since the publication of Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America,” the United States has played a central role in systematic studies of the links between democracy and civil society. This is partly because trends in American life are often seen as indicators of social modernization, and also because America has traditionally been viewed as unusually “civic,” a reputation that, as we shall later see, has not been entirely unjustified.
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