Features of the Eastern European stage of the development of the idea of civil society in the second half of the 1980s – early 1990s

The purpose of the study is to analyze the process of implementing the idea of civil society in Eastern Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. The article examines the theory, as well as the specifics of the practical implementation of the concept of civil society during the "velvet revolutions" of Eastern Europe in the 1970s and 1990s. Scientific novelty: for the first time, the theory of civil society is analyzed on the basis of the materials of Eastern European authors from the period of the "velvet" revolutions of 1989-1991. As a result of the research, the main features of the Eastern European stage of the development of the idea and practice of civil society were identified in the article, and the determining factor in the process of its formation was named. It is pointed out that the lack of conceptualization of issues of politics, the state and government in terms of civil society turned out to be a particularly weak point. Civil society has become a sacralized and therefore utopian ideal of democracy. The "revival" of the idea of civil society in the 1970s and 1980s turned into its "decline" in the 1990s. It is noted that the concept of civil society is complex in terms of theory and practice, and the history of its development is particularly contradictory in comparison with other concepts. It is the experience of Eastern Europe in the 1980s and 1990s that allows us to consider the problem of discreteness of political processes on an empirical level.