The research in management literature on nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and more precisely on the ability of NGOs to influence multinational enterprises' (MNC) practices (literature sometimes known as NGOs – Business interface) is traditionally depicted as important, especially in the North American literature. We intend to show in this chapter that this rather important set of literature sharing this belief in the power of NGOs to influence MNCs practices is based on an implicit positive conception of civil society, a neo-tocquevillian conception of civil society. We begin the chapter with a literature review of this field, showing the discrepancy of studies between research sharing this neo-tocquevillian belief and more critical research underlining the limits of NGOs' influence. We try then to deconstruct the implicit theoretical assumptions that are at the roots of this set of both literature : an implicit reference to Tocqueville's conception of civil society and its vital importance for democracy for the former, and an explicit reference to the work of Habermas (especially his most recent work) for the latter. Given that this Habermassian perspective on civil society still rest on a positive conception of civil society, we conclude by suggesting some interesting theoretical alternative conceptions of civil society that might have, from our point of view, more potential to provide a CMS perspective on the Third Sector.