Decolonizing Civil Society in Mozambique: Why, How and For What? emphasizes the conceptual differences and exclusionary discourses framing the arguments for supporting Western-type NGOs in the development discourse, and for excluding local social actors (such as spiritual and traditional leaders) from an active role in social change.

It is argued that Western conceptions of civil society provide the main guidance for interpreting internationally recognized civil society in the Global South and that these concepts need to be critically deconstructed and scrutinized; binary oppositions be uncovered; and, silenced conceptual meanings be investigated and articulated, in order to balance global power relationships in the academic discourse and development practices.
Kleibl is particularly concerned with the dissection of the current mainstream civil society concept whilst identifying social action and processes that are often based on religious and traditional structures and spiritual discourses. The author attempts to outline new conceptual fragments of an alternative local civil society concept; fresh theoretical issues and questions; as well as empirical experiences, and concludes with policy and practice arguments for rethinking and decolonizing civil society in the Global South.