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Definitional game-playing: civil society, non-commercial, non-profit, non-governmental, third sector, etc.
The key question with regard to any .org strategy -- or with regard to any democratic structure to manage the .org registry and associated enabling services -- is not what is explicitly included, but what is implicitly or inadvertently excluded.
| Common Term | Effectively Excludes (in common usage - indicative only) |
| civil society organizations (CSOs) | scientific, technical, trade associations, sport bodies, for-profit membership bodies |
| voluntary associations | paid staff bodies, professional membership, corporate membership, obligatory membership |
| citizens movements | institutionalized bodies, collective membership |
| non-profit organizations | self-financing bodies, for-profit membership |
| non-governmental bodies (NGOs) | technical groups of government officials, government-established/funded bodies, hybrid bodies |
| third sector bodies | trade associations, hybrid bodies between government/business/nonprofit, and notably international nonprofits |
| independent sector bodies | government or business "front" organizations |
| development organizations | bodies other than humanitarian or field-level development bodies |
| humanitarian / relief bodies | bodies with longer-term functions: scientific, professional, interest-group, etc |
| political organizations, liberation movements, exile associations | non-political bodies |
| kinship, family, tribal and ethnic associations | |
| non-commercial bodies | trade associations, chambers of commerce, for-profit membership bodies |
| advocacy and pressure groups, and lobbying groups | interest groups without any advocacy role |
| peer group networks, secret societies | open membership bodies |
| scholarly societies | non-academic bodies |
| professional associations | open membership bodies |
| virtual communities, usenet groups, user groups | face-to-face organizations, bodies beyond the digital divide |
| societal networks | centers |
| intentional communities, sects | non-residential communities |
| appreciation groups, fan (celebrity) clubs | |
| trade associations, business associations, chambers of commerce | not-for-profit membership bodies |
| activity groups, performance groups, sports bodies, outdoor associations | non-physical groups |
See also: NGOs and Civil Society - Some Realities and Distortions: the challenge of "Necessary-to-Governance Organizations" (NGOs) (1994); Interacting Fruitfully with Un-Civil Society: the dilemma for non-civil society organizations (1996); International institutions: diversity, borderline cases, functional substitutes and possible alternatives
The challenge taken up by many in "civil society" is to seek to coordinate the actions of nonprofit organizations in some way. There is a wide range of coordinating bodies at the international level (see NGO Coordination: Varieties of bodies coordinating nongovernmental action). Such coordination may also be sought through temporary coalitions on short-term issues and campaigns. The challenge remains however that whilst some civil society bodies may be succesfully coordinated for a long-period of time, and it might be possible to coordinate all civil society bodies to some degree for a short period of time, it is highly questionable whether all civil society bodies could be successfully coordinated for a long-period of time on any particular issue -- and it is highly questionable whether this is a desirable strategy.
Discussion of "civil society" is further confused, whether deliberately or inadvertently, by some interpretations of the term. For some it might be restricted to bodies acting a "civilized" manner, namely the "good guys" -- thus implicitly excluding those with contrary positions who "protest". For some it might be usefully restricted to those who represent people, through citizens movements and volunary associations -- thus impliclty excluding the many other kinds of nonprofit bodies that provide an organizational framework for professions, religions, skills, etc. For some it necessarily excludes illegal or criminal bodies as having defined themselves out of civilized society -- and yet many protest movements (especially trade unions) have passed through periods of being declared "illegal". If there is an "un-civil society", how is it to be served by the internet?