But civil society and the state need each other and, in the best of worlds, they develop in tandem, not at each other's expense. Civil Society Has Gone Global Not quite. Activists, scholars, journalists, and others began talking up the phenomenon of advocacy across borders. Global civil society appears a natural extension of the trend toward greater civil society within countries. The phenomenon is significant.
Some caution is nonetheless in order.
In the first place, transnational civil society is not as new as it sounds. The Roman Catholic Church, to name just one example, is a transnational civil society group that has had major international impact for many centuries. Second, most of the new transnational civil society actors are Western groups projecting themselves into developing and transitional societies. They may sometimes work in partnership with groups from those countries, but the agendas and values they pursue are usually their own. Third, like civil society within borders, civil society across borders has its dark side.