随着我国改革开放的深入推进，公民社会的形成与发展已是不争的事实，为此十分有必要开展并深化这一领域的理论研究。当代中国的公民社会研究肇始于20世纪90年代中期，在取得一系列成果的同时也必须看到：这一领域至今仍未实质性地超越西方公民社会理论的话语体系和叙事结构。公民社会研究是一个具有鲜明意识形态特征的学术领域，如果我国的公民社会研究长期跟在西方背后亦步亦趋，其价值最终将被中国式的发展道路所否定。

本书为国家社科基金优秀结项项目“多民族地区公民社会建设的理论与实践研究——以云南为个案” 的最终成果。本书的一个基本观点是：在建构当代中国公民社会研究的概念和理论体系的过程中，当务之急就是要把“中国特色的社会主义公民社会”概念真正树立起来。以此为立论基础，本书对“中国特色的社会主义公民社会”的基本内涵进行了探索性的建构，并紧密联系云南作为典型边疆多民族地区的实际，综合运用多种研究方法，着重探讨了多民族国家在现代公民社会建构中所面临的特殊问题。最后，本书提出了当代中国公民社会研究中有待于深入展开的重要问题域和新的生长点。本书的写作和出版，将有助于树立正确的研究导向，深化理论建构和现实应用的结合，助力于当代中国的社会建设。

With the deepening of China's reform and opening up, the formation and development of civil society has become an indisputable fact, so it is very necessary to carry out and deepen theoretical research in this field. Civil society research in contemporary China began in the mid-90s of the 20th century, and while achieving a series of results, it must also be noted that this field has not yet substantially surpassed the discourse system and narrative structure of Western civil society theory. Civil society research is an academic field with distinct ideological characteristics, and if China's civil society research follows the West's lead for a long time, its value will eventually be denied by the Chinese development path. This book is the final result of the excellent final project of the National Social Science Foundation "Theoretical and Practical Research on the Construction of Civil Society in Multi-ethnic Areas: Taking Yunnan as a Case Study". One of the basic points of this book is that in the process of constructing the conceptual and theoretical system of contemporary Chinese civil society research, it is imperative to truly establish the concept of "socialist civil society with Chinese characteristics". Based on this thesis, this book makes an exploratory construction of the basic connotation of "socialist civil society with Chinese characteristics", and closely links the reality of Yunnan as a typical border multi-ethnic region, comprehensively uses a variety of research methods, and focuses on the special problems faced by the multi-ethnic state in the construction of modern civil society. Finally, this book puts forward important problem areas and new growth points to be carried out in contemporary Chinese civil society research. The writing and publication of this book will help to establish a correct research orientation, deepen the combination of theoretical construction and practical application, and contribute to the social construction of contemporary China.（AI翻译）