During the 1980s, the “civil society” concept made a comeback into the main discourse of the social sciences – after in principle being out of use since the mid-19th century – mainly as a consequence of the emergence of pro-democratic movements in Eastern European and Latin American authoritarian states (Kocka 2004: 67). Civil society in Central Europe is not only seen as one of the main forces behind the overthrow of the communist regimes in the region; it was also one of the core concepts of the transformation of 1989. The changes within the structure and form of the civil society in post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe reflect, to a large extent, the processes of the post-1989 transformation and the transfiguration of the political. This paper examines the tensions and conflicts within the broadly understood civil society sphere through the perspective of social mobilization and the function of the civil society. It also shows the dynamics of the changes within the sector and compares it with other forms of civic engagement such as grassroots social mobilizations. Finally, this papers deals with few myths about the civil society in post-communist Central Europe that shape the academic and the popular thinking about civil society sector in the region.