The authors explore a problem of correlation between institutions of civil society and liberal democracy. More specifically, they examine a phenomenon of “double democratization” (D. Held) that entails a) a separation of the state and civil society as a socially recognized necessity; and b) a consequent interdependent transformation of both the state and the civil society. These social processes are examined within a context of decades-long multifaceted theoretical debates between proponents of the liberal school of political philosophy and neo-Marxist theorists of the Frankfurt school (H. Marcuse, J. Habermas, etc.). Analysis of major stages in this debate shows that despite differences in argumentation, proponents of these two opposing schools of thought share a conviction that an effective policy of the state is capable of overcoming spontaneously emerging crises by directing resources to achieve specific goals. Both schools agree that power in a democratic state depends on endogenous factors: either on an