Sweden builds on the traditions of a Social Demoncratic state and Swedish civil society is characterized by a relatively large number of formal organisations and a large part of the population being members of such organisations. There is a strong pattern of fairly close and cordial relationships between civil society leaders and leading politicians, but less so with the business sectors. More recently, however, there has been an orientation towards professional service-oriented organisations and weakened connections with the state. One assumption is that this opens up for a plurality of elite groups in civil society.

The UK follows a liberal tradition and the field of civil society organizations has been formed by the laws of the Charity Commission set up by the mid-19th century. The law emphasized that charities provide support and social services but hindered registered charities from being openly political. the the early 2000s the government encouraged partnerships between the state and civil society, resulting in capacity building (leadership, manageent) of CSOs and increased funding. Thus, the sector in the UK is highly professionalized. Furthermore, current debates point at a divide between insiders, well-funded CSOs, and outsiders, less well-established community groups, where the former can enjoy priviliged access to media and policy-makers.