Civil society is a form of activity, as well as a form of defining and achieving goals without an impulse from the state authorities. This is the conscious and autonomous participation of citizens in public life. Therefore, civil society is a set of ideas and forms of social self-organization in order to implement them.
This topic was raised in an online event that took place on 1 July 2020. The guest of The Warsaw Institute Review was Leslie Lenkowsky – an expert in the field of civic engagement, non-profit activity as well as public policy, civil society in a comparative perspective, education, social assistance policy and social entrepreneurship. In the years 1990–1997 prof. Lenkowsky served as president of the Hudson Institute. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Lenkowsky as CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service.
The guest of the evening discussed the topic of civil society and its importance in the US and in post-communist countries, the activities of the third sector in the US, its role in American society, as well as the approach of the Americans themselves to this type of activity. Professor Lenkowsky also raised the issue of current directions of US foreign policy and neo-isolationism of Donald Trump. In the Q&A part, the viewers asked about, among others, the education system and whether it prepares young people to be conscious citizens.
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