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International Encyclopedia of Civil Society pp 376–380Cite as

Civil Society Indicators and Indexes

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Introduction

For most of its history, the concept of civil society has been confined to the realms of political theory and philosophy. From the thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment via Gramsci’s cultural hegemony perspective to the revival of the term by Eastern European dissidents in the 1980s, civil society was always used in the context of imagining a normative ideal-type society. In addition, these various philosophical traditions differed quite strongly in their definition of the concept and its boundaries, leading commentators to lament the conceptual confusion around the term and questioning its usefulness for contemporary sociopolitical analysis (Knight & Hartnell, 2001; Grimond, 2002).

Given this ideological and normative baggage, the operationalization of the concept for empirical research – a necessary prerequisite for the development of indicators and indices – is an extremely challenging undertaking. In fact, the applicability and relevance of civil society for...

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References/Further Readings

  • Anheier, H., & Stares, S. (2002). Introducing the global civil society index. In H. Anheier, M. Glasius, & M. Kaldor (Eds.), Global civil society yearbook (pp. 241–254). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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  • Anheier, H. K. (2004). Civil society: Measurement, evaluation, policy. London: Earthscan.

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  • Anheier, H. K. (2005). Measure for measure: A commentary on Heinrich and the state of civil society indicators research. Journal of Civil Society, 1(3), 241–246.

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  • Edwards, M. (2004). Civil society. London: Polity.

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  • Foley, M. W., & Edwards, B. (1998). Beyond Tocqueville. Civil society and social capital in comparative perspective. American Behavioral Scientist, 42, 5–20.

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  • Grimond, J. (2002). Civil society.  The Economist, The World in 2002. London: The Economist.

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  • Heinrich, V. F. (2004). Assessing and strengthening civil society worldwide. A project description of the CIVICUS civil society index: A participatory needs assessment & action-planning tool for civil society. Johannesburg: CIVICUS.

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  • Heinrich, V. F. (2005). Studying civil society across the world. Exploring the thorny issues of conceptualization and measurement. Journal of Civil Society, 1(3), 211–228.

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  • Heinrich, V. F. (2008). What makes civil society strong? Measuring and analysing the strength of civil society across the world. Ph.D. thesis. Fernuniversität Hagen, Hagen: forthcoming.

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  • Howard, M. M. (2003). The weakness of civil society in post-Communist Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Howard, M. M. (2005). Conceptual and methodological suggestions for improving cross-national measures of civil society: Commentary on Heinrich. Journal of Civil Society, 1(3), 229–234.

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  • Knight, B., & Hartnell, C. (2001). ‘Civil society – Is it anything more than a metaphor for hope for a better world?’ Alliance, 6(4), 16.

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  • Kubik, J. (2005). How to study civil society: The state of the art and what to do next. East European Politics & Societies, 19, 105–30.

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  • Salamon, L. M., & Sokolowski, S. W. (2004). Measuring civil society: The Johns Hopkins Global Civil Society Index. In: M. Salamon & S. W. Sokolowski (Eds.), Global civil society. Volume 2. Dimensions of the nonprofit sector (pp. 61–92). Bloomfield: Kumarian Press.

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  • Sokolowski, W., & Salamon, L. (2005). Mirror, mirror on the wall? Commentary on Heinrich. Journal of Civil Society, 1(3), 235–240.

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  • Tester, K. (1992). Civil society. London: Routledge.

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  • Van Deth, J. W. (2003). Measuring social capital: Orthodoxies and continuing controversies. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 6(1), 79–92.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Transparency International, Melville, South Africa

    V. Finn Heinrich

Authors
  1. V. Finn Heinrich
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Helmut K. Anheier

  2. Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany

    Helmut K. Anheier

  3. George Mason University, Arlington, VA, USA

    Stefan Toepler

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Heinrich, V.F. (2010). Civil Society Indicators and Indexes. In: Anheier, H.K., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-93996-4_42

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-93996-4_42

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-93994-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-93996-4

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