Since the end of the Cold War, non-governmental organisations have been flourishing and mushrooming in countries once ruled by one-party dictatorship, changing their political and social landscape in more ways than one.

I do think this scenario is, in general, more than welcome. After all, the spirit of freedom and the culture of agreeing to disagree are the twin pillars that have made western countries great and prosperous.

However, it must also be said that the notion of civil society per se is a double-edged sword, at least such is the perception of the regimes that remain skeptical about the idea.