12195. CIVIL SOCIETY & DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. This paper examines one of the central features Tocqueville identified as making American democracy great - the existence of a strong and active civil society. First provides an overview of Tocqueville's conceptualization of American civil society and its critical link with the consolation of democracy and then looks at some of the factors which Tocqueville believed helped to build and support that strong civil society. The concluding section examines the link between civil society. The concluding section examines the link between civil society and democracy in contemporary America. 16 pages, 29 footnotes, 1 bibliographic source.