iedes Research Group — « Civil Society » and démocratisation : A comparative study in the North and in the South The aim of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of the role played by « civil society » organisations in the process of démocratisation, when it is more or less simultaneous with economic liberalization. The comparative study concerns two Southern countries, Algeria and Mexico, and two European ones, Bosnia Herzegovina and Romania. It analyses two categories of organizations : trade unions and the commonly called « non governmental » organizations. The paper concludes that if the role played by these organizations differs greatly from country to country, it remains in fact very restricted. This can be explained by the fact that they couldn't yet constitute effective counterbalancing powers and by the constraints of the economic and international environment., IEDES. « Société civile » et démocratisation : une étude comparative au Nord et au Sud. In: Tiers-Monde, tome 45, n°178, 2004. Les masques du tourisme, sous la direction de Georges Cazes et Georges Courade. pp. 443-464.