Cambridge Scholars Publishing Models of European Civil Society: Transnational Perspectives on Forming Modern Societies (Copernicus Graduate School Studies (CGS Studies))

The following volume is devoted to the issues of European models of civil societies. The aim of the authors is not to exhaust the whole topic but to bring forward some studies related to the civil society, both in the historical but also present perspective. Civil society is an important factor in a well-functioning state and crucial for developing a real, active and conscious community, which is able to control the state and its’ servants. Even more importantly, when the state fails to react to negative developments or leaders misuse their power to enforce it in fulfilling its duties, and in the most radical, or dramatic cases to replace it or change the governors. Democratic order gives the society enough tools to do this and the internet, social media and other new means of communication improve the level of self-organisation and shorten the time for potential reactions. About the Author Adam Jarosz is an Assistant Professor at the University of Zielona Góra, Poland, as well as the scientific secretary of the Copernicus Graduate School. His scientific interests concentrate on local governments with a focus on cities, governance and social participation at the local level, border regions, German history and current issues, German-Polish relations and systemic transformation after 1989, and the position of the president in the Polish political system. Katarzyna Kącka is an Assistant Professor of the History of International Relations in the Faculty of Political Sciences and International Studies at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. She mainly deals with post-war Polish-German relations, the politics of history, and theories of international relations. She is a member of the editorial committee of the journals Athenaeum: Polskie Studia Politologiczne and Historia i Polityka.