The article provides an analysis of the re-formation of the civic sphere and civil society in the postcommunist environment. Focusing on the widespread tendency to equate civil society with the organized public involvement through non-profit and non-governmental organizations, it points to tensions and conflicts that such equation brings about. It is inspired by an extensive research project, yet it also draws on two distinct theoretical perspectives in particular. Luhmann’s and Alexander’s conceptual schemes serve here to account for the relations between various components of the formation of civic identities after 1989: the specific historical situation and the modern concept of active citizenship, the organizational form of civic associations and symbolic representations of civil society, concrete relationships or organizational practices and the identity of the civic sector.