By the definitional sense you offer in your question which covers broad politico-legal landscape from Africa to the middle east, I will offer you a couple of publications which to my perception exactly tackle the issues you raised in your statement, they focused both technical also substantial aspects and trends of the process. In my standpoint substance is general when we think about civil society to governmental relationships...

Civil Society in Central Asia Edited by M. Holt Ruffin Daniel C. Waugh Center for Civil Society International The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Johns Hopkins University in association with University of Washington Press Seattle and London 

Civil Society and Political Change in Asia Expanding and Contracting Democratic Space Edited by Muthiah Alagappa Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 2004

Civil Life, Globalization, and Political Change in Asia

Organizing between family and state Edited by Robert P. Weller First published 2005 by Routledge

Civil Society and International Governance The role of non-state actors in global

and regional regulatory frameworks Edited by David Armstrong, Valeria Bello, Julie Gilson and Debora Spini First published 2011 by Routledge

Please, find attached files.

With best regards,

Karlo Godoladze

Dear Karlo,

thank you for these thoughtful comments and links.

Very much appreciated

In Latin America, tjhe civil society is an active force that, however, is not to be grasped in terms of the clasical theory of civil society from the 1980s or 1990s. Numerous checks on governemnt policies are carried out continuously. The trouble is that for the general society those actions are not always known, because the main mass media do not cover them.

Hence, alternative mass media are being developed, in which many university centers do participate. The panorama is quite vivid, indeed!

In my book, Importing Democracy: The Role of NGOs in South Africa, Tajikistan and Argentina, I discuss the ways in which democratization NGOs impact law-based civil liberties.  This is one of four major topics throughout the book- but the most relevant to your question.

www.importingdemocracy.org

Social Equity: Egalitarianism in Action

            The United States has been working to achieve this since it is not easy to reach this ambition or objective.  The political steps in our history are on a slow and steady path to equality and justice for all, inaugurating a process of becoming a diverse and free human working machine.  Equivalent rights of “citizens,” continues to be a struggle in our culture and societal systems.  In 1789 Our Forefathers created, The United States Constitution.  The First Amendment of the Constitution was The Bill of Rights.  It was implemented on December 15th, 1791 deliberated to protect rights of U.S. citizens; it prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or forbid government interferences. 

Historic Social Legislation Prominent to Egalitarianism

History shows many of the flaws in administration and political injustices of our system.   Most evident appear in the highest level of our legal system.  These huge decisions at the top of our system flow down to the lowest levels of our society.  In 1803, Marbury v. Madison was the first case to declare, an act passed by Congress as unconstitutional because a body of laws apply equally to all, “a government of laws, not of men”.           The next major controversial Supreme Court case happened in 1857, during the Dred Scott v. Sanford slavery debate.  Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that blacks were not citizens and therefore could not sue in federal court  (Shafritz, Russell and Boric, 2013).  This was discrimination at its worst and this action lent a hand to the U.S. towards the Civil War.   An “administrative fix for racism”: the Supreme Court Case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, which defended the constitutionality of racial segregation.  Blacks on railroad cars did not violate “the equal protection under the laws” clause of the 14th Amendment.  Plessy v. Ferguson defended the constitutionality of racial segregation.  The ruling (so-called justice), in this case, headed to further racial injustice in the southern states.  At that time, Justice John Marshall, a true leader who stood alone a say “a thin disguise of equal accommodations will not mislead anyone”; separate is not equal (Shafritz, Russell and Boric, 2013). 

            Court cases, in U.S. history that fight for equal rights are courageous and unique within their own right.  However, there are some significant U.S. Supreme Court cases that we have memorized and relate directly with discrimination.  We have briefly discussed a few cases in this essay up to this point.  Due to length, I will simply mention, the other monumental cases relating to equal rights in: race, religion, color, sex and creed.

ü    Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka- invalidated racial segregation in schools

ü    Griswold v. Connecticut- privacy rights for married couples

ü    Miranda v. Arizona- due process clause to warn suspects of their rights

ü    Roe v. Wade- women’s right to privacy to have an abortion

ü    Bush v. Gore- equal protection and due process of hand counting votes

ü    National Federation of Business v. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human

Services- equal rights and access to health care law for low-income families

By way of court cases, mandates and battles, these discriminatory court ruling were invalidated by new official laws.  Purposeful direction and ethical operation our society, government, corporations and business requires fair and just policy making.  Max Weber was an early sociologist, philosopher and political economist.  Weber’s theory of bureaucracy can be applied to some aspects of social equality. 

Hi Christian, I suggest this study.

My favorite example from Argentina is the change from closed, secret hearings for Supreme Court nominees to open hearings.  This resulted from a campaign led by democratization NGOs.  See www.importingdemocracy.org

please see the article below which provides some examples where the 'third force' especially alert media and pressure groups have been instrumental in compelling governments to order

Yeboah-Assiamah, E. (2016). ‘Strong Personalities’ and ‘Strong Institutions’ Mediated by a ‘Strong Third Force’: Thinking ‘Systems’ in Corruption Control. Public Organization Review, 1-18.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11115-016-0351-5

Very limited, and sometimes may harassment by government.

"Very limited"- is an inaccurate overall conclusion, although relevant to some countries. My book, Importing Democracy, (download it on Researchgate) came out some time ago, but I am updating part of it for a special issue of Management and Development. So far, I am finding that civil society is still very relevant, despite the global "democratic recession." Regulation has increased, predictably, but, as with many policies of weak states, is not consistently effective.