Some very important arguments concerning the future of post-Communist societies are attached to the term. Firstly, as De Tocqueville observed of the United States over a century and a half ago, active citizens involved in public affairs and a developed civil society can sustain and improve democracy, cutting down upon abuses by officials and political professionals and giving citizens a direct influence on government. Finally, and most ambitiously, civil society can be seen as a political program for a future post-Communist democracy. In the President's view, this means decentralising the state, weakening political parties and gradually transferring public services such as health, welfare and education to the emerging third, civic sector. The vision of a self-governing community of citizens slowly emerging, while the state partly withers away is a deeply inspiring one.
Realities always lag behind hopes and expectations.
But, viewed soberly, what is striking is the lack of progress in re-establishing the type of civil society envisaged. Independent trade unions, interest groups and associations do, of course, exist in Central and Eastern Europe in ways unthinkable before 1989. Some play an important social and political role. However, many of the most significant actors in civil societies in the region, such as the Polish Catholic church or the Czech trade unions, have not emerged since 1989, but either survived the Communist regime or led a previous life as official structures. They worry nervously, that strongly institutionalised trade unions and professional associations will stifle competition, individual initiative and the proper operation of the free market.