L'invention africaine des sociétés civiles : déni théorique, figure imposée, prolifération empirique

For some fifteen years, the debate relating to civil society and the roles of the latter accompanied the crisis of post-colonial African societies and the reshaping of international development policies. The "historical hindsight" allows to highlight a vast debate, of a theoretical nature, on the nature of civil society and of the organisations which claim to belong to this civil society. It also casts light on the de facto proliferation of organisations supposed to constitute the civil society and which are probably part of an unprecedented reshaping of social and political relations in these post-colonies. This article makes the point on the concept of civil society, its dimensions and debates relating to African contexts.