About this journal

Journal of Civil Society is the leading academic voice for research and policy analysis on civil society. As a peer-reviewed journal with demanding standards, JCS provides a high profile, high impact outlet for world-class scholarship and debate on civil society, and serves as the authoritative source for research in an emerging field that lacks a central organ for dissemination.

Civil society is a contested concept. There is little agreement on its precise meaning, though much overlap exists among core conceptual components. In its transnational dimension, the term goes beyond the notion of both nation state and national society, and allows us to examine critical aspects of globalisation and the emergence of a new social, cultural and political sphere.

JCS seeks to improve the theoretical understanding and empirical knowledge of civil society, its nature, patterns and composition, its history, development, and relationships with the economy, the political system and society at large. A major focus of the journal is to encourage and inform the range of scholarships and approaches on civil society across disciplines and national as well as cultural boundaries.

Specifically, JCS welcomes research and contributions on the history and evolution of civil society in different world regions, at local and regional levels, types, forms and expressions of civil society, empirical work on structure and change of civil society, mapping the contours and dimensions of civil society, theoretical and conceptual studies, comparative analysis, inter and cross disciplinary approaches, policy analysis, institutions, community, social inequality, social inclusion, social justice, social and cultural capital, economy, governance and democracy.

Civil society cuts across disciplinary boundaries and brings into focus some of the longstanding and nagging questions about the relationship between economy, polity and society. Indeed, civil society may well emerge as the most significant conceptual innovation of the social sciences at the turn of the century. The concept signals the beginning of an intellectual shift away from disciplinary specialisation on ’the’ state and ’the’ market to more general debate about key aspects of the human condition. This shift, and the growing importance of the term civil society in virtually all social sciences may well be indicative of a potential paradigmatic change among the major social sciences more generally.

Editor-in-Chief: Dr Hakan Seckinelgin

The Editor-in-Chief, Dr Hakan Seckinelgin, is Associate Professor (Reader) in International Social Policy, in the Department of Social Policy, at the LSE. His research interests include NGOs, civil society, global civil society, social movements and his research has been looking at developing countries with specific reference Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Turkey and Europe.

For a list of Hakan's publications click here.

Peer review

All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the editor, and, if found suitable for further consideration, research articles are then subject to double anonymous peer review by two or more independent, expert referees. Commentary pieces may be reviewed on a single anonymous basis as well as review by the journal editor.

Editor-in-Chief

Reza Hasmath, University of Alberta, Canada

Associate Editors

Nathan Grasse, Carleton University, Canada
Carolyn Hsu, Colgate University, USA
Georg von Schnurbein, University of Basel, Switzerland
Pamala Wiepking, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands and Indiana University, USA

Editorial Board

Mário Aquino Alves, FGV São Paulo School of Business Administration, Brazil
Rene Bekkers, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
Lucy Bernholz, Stanford University, USA
Paul Chaney, Cardiff University, UK
Elisabeth Clemens, University of Chicago, USA
Ram Cnaan, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Catherine Corrigall-Brown, University of British Columbia, Canada
Paul Dekker, Tilburg University, Netherlands
Angela M. Eikenberry, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA
Grzegorz Ekiert, Harvard University, USA
Bernard Enjolras, Institute for Social Research, Norway
Ann Florini, Arizona State University, USA
Alan Fowler, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Catherine Herrold, Syracuse University, USA
Lesley Hustinx, Ghent University, Belgium
Tobias Jung, St. Andrew's University, UK
John Keane, University of Sydney, Australia
David Lewis, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Peter Lewis, John Hopkins University, USA
Lianjiang Li, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Debra Minkoff, Columbia University, USA
Michael Meyer, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Austria
Roseanne Mirabella, Seton Hall University, USA
Francie Ostrower, University of Texas at Austin, USA
Enrique Peruzzotti, Torcuato Di Tella University, Argentina
Susan Phillips, Carleton University, Canada
Andrea Römmele, Hertie School of Governance, Germany
Hans Peter Schmitz, University of San Diego, USA
Jan Art Scholte, Leiden University, Netherlands
Elizabeth Searing, University of Texas at Dallas, USA
Anthony Spires, University of Melbourne, Australia
Mark Sidel, University of Wisconsin at Madison, USA
Helen Sullivan, Australia National University, Australia