Civil society is a contested term that broadly describes the arena of collective social interaction situated between the state, market, and household. Despite being used in a normative manner to encompass a host of values linked with participation and cooperation, it is more commonly used to describe a range of formal and informal nonstate organizations, groups, and associations that form part of the voluntary sector. These usually refer to community organizations, activist groups, trade unions, faith-based groups, cooperatives, as well as more formal nongovernmental