Civil society dialogue or civil dialogue is in short defined as “fairly structured practices of dialogue between national, EU and international institution and NGOs”.

In the Western Balkan region, practices and experiences of relations and cooperation between CSOs and the Government exists on national level through attempts to define relations, legal framework and cooperation between public authorities (both central and local) and civil society organizations (CSOs) fore mostly in form of government’s strategies or agreements for cooperation with civil society.

Different paces and models exist among the countries in the region, with Croatia as the frontrunner. In countries where mechanisms have been established, the challenge remains in its full implementation. Due to similarity of experiences, cultural closeness and same strategic objective of EU integration, the institutionalization of relations with civil society is faced with similar challenges and difficulties.

Creation of civil dialogue structures and mechanisms is primarily focused on the Government. If the main goal of civil dialogue structure is to improve the functioning of democratic structures, the attention must also be put on a broader understanding of civil dialogue and its relation vis-a-vis the Parliament as well as establishment, functioning and practices of civil dialogue at the local level.

In politicizes societies where political parties play a crucial role, the relation and cooperation between the civil society sector and political parties has also not been allotted much attention or is in many countries a taboo.