The purpose of this study was to examine if Robert Putnams theory about the civil society as a tool for democratization holds.

The method that was used in this research was a case study. The material that was collected is from CIVICUS reports on how the situation is for the civil society in three different African nations, Rwanda, South Africa and Zambia. Other material was scientifically articles and books about democratization. I also used an index relating to how democratic a state is to determine its democratic status according to the index criteria.

By taking these values and analyzing them I could determine that Putnams theory is not applicable on countries outside the western world and that the civil society is not necessary for democratization process to work, although it benefits. But that the civil society is vital for the democracy to remain otherwise the state will go back to becoming an undemocratic state again.