Dissident writings: prefiguring global civil society?

In the late twentieth century, civil society emerged as a cause célèbre in the successful transition to democracy in two regions: Eastern Europe and South America. While the sudden, spectacular transformations in Eastern Europe (or Central East Europe as the protagonists would have it) attracted more scholarly attention in the West, both have been largely seen as ‘rectifying revolutions’ (Habermas, 1991), realizing the aspiration to become like us. The writings of activists from the pre-democratic period have been largely ignored in later narratives which chart a linear progression from brave Western-oriented dissidents to mass mobilization to liberal democracy.