Civil Society Theory And Practice

As the basis of market economy and democratic system, civil society is one of the standards by which the democracy of a western country is measured. As the basis of democratic system, the theory of civil society provides a useful view to building Russian civil society during the transitional period and studying the relationship between Russian country and society.Through all ages different scholars hold different views and understanding toward civil society theory. This paper first of all makes a review of the theories about civil society, and takes some prominent characteristics of civil society as the basis of writing. Following that, this paper mainly analyzes, after a brief review and analysis of the history of Russian civil society, the manner and effectiveness of the civil society at Putin's presidency. Finally, the author expresses own view on the problems encountered in the construction of civil society, and makes judgment about the development direction of Russian civil society.After Putin came into office, a series of political, economic and social measures were taken to explore the pattern of the establishment of civil society from the top down. Laying weighty emphasis on the construction of political structure and system, Putin first and foremost improved the legal foundation of system as required by a mature civil society, and consolidated the current development pattern. Changes in every aspect of the country indicate that Russian civil society is developing positively, but generally speaking, there are still not a few unhealthy factors in Russian civil society, say, the unsound party system, imperfect development of non-government organization, unhealthy growth of middle class, and weak awareness of citizen participation, making Russian civil society hardly confront the powerful Russian country system. Taking into consideration the present situation and the steps taken by the country, there's still a long way to for Russia to go to build a mature civil society and sound democratic system.Whatever means taken, the key issue is, through cultivating Russian civil society, to reasonably define the scope of national activity and establish the benign interaction between country and society and the restriction of rights and power. Regardless of the final results, the construction of Russian civil society provides experiences for many developing countries during the transitional period, including former socialist countries, to go by.