According to the prevailing conventional wisdom, a strong civil society, indicated by the size and density of membership of civic associations, lies behind successful democracies, while a weak civil society is the root of failed or flawed democracies. In relation to post-communist democratic transitions this has led to the conclusion that interest representation is weak and ineffective in Eastern Europe. However, a different picture emerges if we adopt a focus on the relations between state and social actors and investigate the nature and extent of the influence of social actors in specific cases. As a result, it can be shown that different countries each display differing degrees of political strength or weakness in their civil societies. The paper reviews the existing literature and draws on recent survey research of interest group leaders in Hungary and Slovenia.
