Interacting fruitfully with un-civil society the dilemma for non-civil society organizations

This paper acknowledges the quantity of research and evaluative studies that has been done on non-governmental organizations, civil society and third sector questions over the past decades and more recently in relation to Eastern Europe. However, in an effort to increase the policy relevance of future studies, it takes a critical stance with regard to the way these topics have been framed in the past and their limited significance for development policy. Some apology is therefore in order for those who would expect a different style of paper.