While subsequent chapters will dwell in-depth on the role that two non-state groups (religious and diaspora groups) played in the Liberian peace process, this chapter will serve as a precursor by looking at civil society more broadly, especially with regard to its manifestations in African and Liberian society.

Theoretical foundations

That there exist various definitions and interpretations of civil society reflects the diverse opinions of what the concept represents. One analysis maintains that ‘conceptually… “civil society” seems to be diffuse, hard to define, empirically imprecise, and ideologically laden’ (Allen, 1997: 329). Another study defines civil society as ‘a sphere of social interaction between economy and the state, composed above all of the intimate sphere (especially the family), the sphere of associations (especially voluntary associations), social movements, and forms of public communications’ (Cohen and Arato, 1999: ix). It has also been defined as ‘a sphere of social association in society in distinction to the state, involving a network of institutions through which society and groups within it represent themselves in cultural, ideological and political senses’ (Shaw, 2008: unpaginated), and ‘the web of social relations that exist in the space between the state, the market (activities with the aim of extracting profit), and the private life of families and individuals’ (Barnes, 2005: 7). Gellner (1995: 32) has further defined civil society as ‘that set of diverse non-governmental institutions, which is strong enough to counterbalance the state, and, whilst not preventing the state from fulfilling its role of keeper of the peace and arbitrator between major interests, can nevertheless prevent the state from dominating and atomizing the rest of society’.

What is common to these various definitions is the delineation of civil society as separate from the state, its supposed role as a check on the excesses of the state, and its distinction from other aspects of society, such as the business sector. Cohen and Arato (1999), in particular, emphasize the need to distinguish civil society from the political society of parties, political organizations and political publics, as well as economic society, comprising organizations of distribution and production.