EDITIONS

Civil society is a springboard for building democratic values. The definition of civil society informs us that its main purpose is to develop a specific issue for a self-created group, which ultimately affects the good of the state. Over the centuries, the relationship between the citizen and the state developed in different ways, and today, different legal norms regulate their relationship. The conversation started at the end of the last century, when the states came to the conclusion that democratic states or states on the way to democracy should not go to war with each other. But the question is how democratic values and the essence of its value are determined. We may be talking about the importance of creating an equal and free environment, but the state alone cannot establish all of this if citizens’ consent and their actions are not interconnected. In particular, citizens were given the opportunity, of course, within the framework of the law, to make various important decisions, which actually will not only help them, a specific group, but will also have a positive impact on the state. Nowadays, a number of associations are formed, the most popular are non-governmental organizations, the main area of which is the protection of human rights as much as possible within the state, raising awareness in various directions from the information point of view, etc. It should be added that the non-governmental sector is a significant push in society, especially in Central Europe and the USA. In addition to non-governmental organizations, which mainly operate in the private sector, at the local level, the central government creates various associations where the local population is involved, and in fact, this becomes an example of the fact that the government is interested in the opinion of the population and, based on certain initiatives, has influence through the involvement of the people. This last particular approach is, in practice, a bit difficult for developing countries to implement as they are still in their infancy. Therefore, in developing countries, the non-governmental sector is more relevant and effective. Additionally, one of the significant directions of civil society is the media, which has a great influence on the population within the state. We can safely say that the more independent and demanding the media is, the more healthy and correct information is spread, which is an important key to the formation of society on specific issues.

Keywords: civil society, legal norms, non-governmental organization, media.