With civil society enjoying recognition as the voice of the poor, it can play an important role in shaping our future views of key issues that to date have been lumped together under the broader concept of development. The paper argues that the challenge facing civil society at the beginning of the 21st century is to help redress the imbalance that currently exists in the global economic system between rich and poor at the level of nations as well as citizens. In pursuing this argument, the paper begins by looking at what is wrong with development. It proceeds by examining what civil society is all about and the challenges facing it at the beginning of the 21st century. It concludes with some reflections on how civil society actors may want to proceed in the future.
