Considers the possibility of opening up economies and societies of the Third World to democracy; specifically the role of civil society in contributing to democracy and the varieties of civil society and state-society relations in distinct Third World areas.. Using case studies from sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, and including such critical countries as South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, and Egypt, Civil Society focuses on the processes and politics of dismantling "corporate" (state directed) economies and political systems in the Third World in order to move toward civil societies of free associability and democracy and the limits and pitfalls in this approach.