Civil society in Greece as part of a european civil society

Abstract

The political context of this discussion is focused on the fact that organized forms of civil society, namely CSOs and NGOs, can act as intermediaries between central government, local authorities and communities, so as to shape an overall new type of communitarian provision. Sociologists and academics define civil society as articulate organizations which represent the interests of shared-minded groups as well as social interaction and citizens’ initiatives. Scholars define all these associations in a different way and classify civil society as a composition of groups with general interest, professional and trade unions and generally business interest associations. According to the EU, as it is related by the European Commission, civil society tends to be aligned with governance process by following supportably the principles of representative and participatory democracy. However scholars can hardly see EU associations as part of Europe’s civil society (kohler-Koch & Quittkat, 2009). CSOs are mainly seen as drivers of change and providers of both economic models and social innovations. They are divided into service providers and advocate organizations which promote human rights, and civic engagement participating in policy making. These two roles are interlinked and are dealing with organized groups of people which share the same interests and try to influence and push policy makers to decide in their own interest. However for many researchers there is not a clear understanding of the exact role and action of civil society organizations (Divjak & Forbici, 2017).