A lecture about Civil Society and Democratic Transformation was held on August 13, 2021, by Shorena Lortkipanidze, co-founder and board member of Civil Council on Defense and Security, expert in EU programmes and a professor at Tbilisi State University.

Ms. Lortkipanidze first talked about the definitions of civil society, according to various sources and what are the main differences between theoretical and practical appearances of it. Larry Diamond’s ten functions, as a basement of discussing civil society and its importance, was broadly overviewed.

As civil society is not a modern construction and its trail goes back to the antique times, historical aspects and old philosophers’ views about the importance of social lives, as well as civil society were mentioned. Moreover, major transcripts and essays around civil society were discussed.

One of the main directions of the lecture was the correlation between strong civil society and quality of democratization, as an indicator of society’s readiness for taking specific actions. This passage included talks about education and development, as a way towards democracy and an importance of state institutions in strengthening local communities.

The lecture was held in the framework of the project Youth for Pluralism and Democracy, which is conducted by the Civil Council on Defense and Security and Max Planck Foundation, with the financial support of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.

 

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