This paper assesses the empirical merits of competing hypotheses on the convergence of national public spheres in the European context and the emergence of a “European civil society.” Using a new method for aggregating indicators on two key dimensions, voluntarism and trust, the study develops a dynamic map of civil society strength in Europe. The results challenge the view that welfare states freeze patterns of civic participation into predictable clusters, as both voluntarism and trust are shown to vary considerably over short periods of time. Nonetheless, social inequality emerges as a key factor accounting for trends in civil society organization. Social inequality dynamics help explain why countries found on apparently similar historical paths, such as Portugal and Spain or Poland and the Czech Republic, display substantially different developments in terms of civil society strength. As some welfare states prove more resilient than others in the context of economic liberalization, European civil societies appear to move, at least temporarily, towards polarization rather than convergence.
