Regional civic society: conditions and factors of existence

The emerging crisis situation actualizes interest in the concept of civic society. The history of the idea reveals a number of reconstructions performed from different theoretical points of view. The experiments of A. Gramsci, A. Seligman and Yu. Reznik are most interesting. The domestic science, despite the wide variation of definitions, criteria and indicators, interprets civic society as a non-state sphere of the community. The phenomenon is multi-faceted. Across the country it represents certain integrity. In the region it is a product of the regional society’s activity. It is a polyvariant system of interaction between actors and institutions in this region. Their activity creates the socio-cultural space where there is a balance of interests: individual and group, informal and institutional. The civic society’s activities in the region reflect the logic of its formation - from below. Everyday practices of civic society take place in the space, called a “third sector”. In the Vologda Oblast there are conditions for the civic society functioning. The analysis of these conditions indicates the possibilities and prospects to develop civic society in the region and discloses the problems in this area. The author comes to the conclusion that there are significant reserves for the development of regional civic society.