An Internet search today reveals more than 34,000 websites in which the term is used. Across the world, the prefix 'civil society' has suddenly become attached to centres, research institutions, foundations, university departments, government units, challenge funds, projects, conferences, and much else. Civil society is everywhere being strengthened, promoted and reinvented. This adds up to a huge industry. It is striking that so much energy is being put into something that is so vague.
Civil society is so plastic that it appeals right across the political spectrum.
By endorsing civil society, people can commit to anything. By the same token, there is room for everyone to be disappointed. One has only to look to the fate of the 'third way' in Germany. Because it is attracting so much criticism for being a vacuous concept, it is being quietly dropped. If the same fate befalls civil society, the notion of citizenship may fall off the political agenda, to be replaced with a new and unsympathetic set of ideas.