Introduction. The term civil society has been perceived by different scholars to be associated by any organized group of people independent from the state and partly self sustaining. The question of civil society organizations being non-profit making to my understanding is still debatable due to the fact that according to some scholars even business entities and trade unions can be categorized as civil society organizations or associations.
Aim of the study. This paper tries to focus/put emphasis on what are Civil Society Organizations are and gives an outline of categories of such Organizations in Europe, it briefly looks at Governance and Democratic Governance concepts. It will then after focus on the major roles of Civil Society Organizations in European democratic Governance drawing other examples also from other countries where possible and try to bring out scholarly arguments on the negative impacts of civil society organizations. The paper ends with conclusions and analysis of SC participation through EU’s multilevel governance.
Keywords: civil society, democracy, governance, european union
