MEASURING AND EXPLAINING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY SECTOR

Abstract

Recent decades have seen a substantial increase in the socio- -economic importance of the civil society sector. Nowadays the sector tends to be seen as one of the pre-requisites of socio- -economic development of a society. Nevertheless, comparisons of existing international data reveal substantial variations in the development and socio-economic importance of the sector. The paper presents three alternative measurements of the development of the civil society sector which tend to be described in the form of various civil society indexes. The results indicate that alternative measurements of sector development tend to be positively related, although the strength and significance of particular relationships differ substantially. Furthermore, the ability to empirically explain international variations in the development of the sector through various theoretically plausible economic, political, social and cultural explanatory variables is subject to the selection of particular measurement of sector development, although empirical results tend to suggest that differences in cultural fragmentation and wealth of society seem to be relevant factors regardless of the civil society index being considered.