CIVIL SOCIETY FROM HISTORICAL, THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES AND THE LIMITS OF GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY

Maina Mackson Abga & Sule Shaka

Faculty of General Studies, Federal University Dutse, Jigawa State- Nigeria

Department of Political Science, University of Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.

Email:ammackson@yahoo.com, abgamainamackson@gmail.com & shakadeck@gmail.com

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, the concept of “globalization” is discouraging rather than inspirational. Many thought that it entails dominance rather than a unifying force;  globalization is perceived to affecting the daily lives of millions of people which goes  beyond the bounds of the nation state, and the authority of national governments who are  most often, unaccountable to their citizens; while the authority of nation states seems to decline, new global issues are multiplying: climate change, infectious diseases, violations of human security and human rights, terrorism, nuclear weapons, environmental destruction, economic inequality; these problems cannot be isolated from each other or solved individually; which could by directed action, may be considered as ineffective in the face of such overwhelming  inter-territorial issues, which made any  global action  too complex for fast and ready answers; it became necessary to identify one observable fact  occurring today that offers not solutions per se but a process for engagement with the most pressing problems of our contemporary world: “the emergence of global civil society”; in recent years, consciousness of global civil society has reached a crescendo in  attracting attention and anticipating influences; this is so because, it is becoming critical of the dangers of globalization, and people are grouping together in social movements, NGOs, and demonstrations to confront  these “all involving” challenges facing humanity today. In the light of the above, this essay examines Civil Society from the Historical and Theoretical Perspectives and the Limits of Global civil Society.