ABSTRACT
Civil society is one of the most dynamically expanding sectors in Asia. Civil society is a public sphere that broadly refers to the non-state institutions and associations critical to sustaining democratic participation. The concept originally emerged from Western history and throughout the centuries, spread to other cultures. Each society molds its own version of civil society. This volume is the start of an interdisciplinary effort to analyze civil society and its internal dynamics, in the context of different cultures and histories to obtain a more holistic understanding of Asian civil society.
