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Complexities and Challenges for Civil Society Building in Post-Conflict Settings

Strengthening or even ‘building’ civil society has become a preoccupation of international development actors working in post-conflict settings. However, how to do so effectively remains a difficult and theoretically underexplored question. This article identifies two core challenges. The first is how to overcome the discrepancy between what international development actors aim to achieve in building civil society – namely the strengthening of the social contract between a state and its citizens – and strategies to achieve it that focus narrowly on local NGOs and on their roles in apolitical service delivery, leaving out the state. The second is how to take better account of the complexities of the local institutions and processes concerned, and the alternative forms of social contract that might come about. This article explores these challenges and recommends how debate and research might proceed.