Civil Society
At the start of the new Millennium, the World Bank sees the involvement of civil society (CS) as central to achieving country ownership of development assistance.
Today, local and national CSOs collaborate on a broad range of the Bank's economic and sector activities in their countries and provide inputs to poverty assessments, national environmental action plans, and other key analytical tools. They also participate increasingly actively in national-level policy debates on issues such as gender, the environment, economic development, and public expenditures.
In the Bank's safeguard policies for the environment, indigenous peoples, and resettled communities, there are now provisions for community participation in Bank operations. Significantly, as civil society participation in project development has increased, satisfactory outcomes for those projects have gone up.
http://go.worldbank.org/EPVZ1WZB01
從威權體制與公民社會的互動關係來看，只要腐敗的威權體制維持其精英式、保密式、排公共參與式、自上而下的命令式作風，倡導型NGO就只會增強增多，而不會減少減弱。
實則，他們所發動的社會運動，是抗爭政治（Contentious Politics）的一種形式。抗爭政治基本上有三種形式，
- 偶發性的集體行動、
- 有組織的持久性集體行動（即公民社會運動）, 與
- 革命。
其中，公民社會運動有助於降低暴力與狂風暴雨式的革命的可能性。因此，它應被視為溫和理性的公民政治參與的方式，而不宜深謀遠慮地把它分化、收編、鎮壓或醜化。
之所以，它會產生的原因，多在於政府失靈或市場失靈（Market Failure），也就是政府或市場沒能扮演好其應有的職能，才會激發出民間自力救濟，或逼政府做出必要改革的請願或示威。
政府若不分青紅皂白地使其失聲（de-voicing），只會使不滿積累，終而一爆而不可收拾，如現階段中東的實況。
一個健全的社會，需要這些中介組織來發揮多元制衡的作用，以免積重難返。NGO實為多元主義民主體制的生命，尤其是公益型NGO。
http://www.orientaldaily.com.my/~oriental/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=12517:&Itemid=202
