civil_societies

Some Remarks on Action Groups and Civil Society
Herui Tedla

The concepts of ‘action groups' and ‘civil society', have become welcome additions to the growing Eritrean political dictionary. The deep cleavage between Eritrean political organisations needed reconciliation efforts. The arbitrary imprisonment of members of the Eritrean parliament, journalists, university students, and elders by the dictatorship, also needed active protest. It is as a response of these needs that action oriented organisations began to flourish.

The following is a summary of the views of Thomas Carothers (Foreign Policy: Winter, 1999)

Civil society is not a recent invention but can be traced to the works of Cicero and other classical philosophers who equated it to the state. Later, Thomas Paine and George Hegel developed it to mean parallel but separate from the state. Antonio Gramsci further developed the notion of civil society as a platform for the struggle against dictatorships of the right. Hungarian, Czech, and Polish activists are known to have applied Gramsci's theories for this purpose.

Civil society includes all organisations and associations outside the state, political parties, and the market. It includes all interest groups, including labour unions, professional organisations (like doctors and lawyers associations); and disparate organisations such as the chamber of commerce, ethnic associations, religious organisations, student groups, and cultural organisations (like choirs and bird watching, sports clubs, etc.). NGOs may not be at the heart of civil society, but they occupy a sizeable part of the civil society space. Civil societies may be dominated by elite-run groups and may have only tenuous ties to the citizens on whose behalf they claim to act. In the end civil societies like the NGOs are dependent on government or foreign funds.

Civil society does not always consist of noble causes and well-intentioned actors. “...Civil society is a bewildering array of the good, the bad, and the outright bizarre”. If one limits civil society to those actors who pursue high-minded aims, the concept becomes, “a theological notion, not a political or sociological one”. The idea that civil society represents only the public good is wrong; struggles over the public interest are not between civil society on the one hand and bad guys on the other but within civil society itself. It should be remembered that civil society is often concerned with private economic interests; a great part of civil society is primarily concerned with the pursuit of private and selfish ends.

Does a strong civil society ensure democracy? Robert Putnam (1995) argues that a strong civil society disciplines the state, ensure that citizens' interest is taken seriously, and fosters greater civic and political participation. Sheri Berman (1997), on the other hand, argues that Germany had a vibrant civil society yet failed to solidify democracy and liberal values. Weak political institutions, combined with the proliferation of civil society, were not able to withstand the pressures of the nationalist populist organisations that ushered the Nazi party. Dense civil society organisations became the raw material upon which the Nazis built a dynamic political machine so rapidly. “As early as the 1960s, some scholars warned that the proliferation of interest groups in mature democracies could choke the workings of representative institutions and systematically distort policy outcomes in favour of the rich and well-connected or, more simply, the better organised.”

Does democracy ensure a strong civil society? Political parties and elections are what ensure multiple political choices. Democracy can certainly operate in a country with only lightly developed civic associations. The argument that a democracy is not a real democracy unless it has American-style civic society is not only wrong but also dangerous.

Is civil society crucial for economic success? In Korea, the economic miracle that occurred during the repression cannot be claimed by the civil society that flourished after the fall of the dictatorship. In Bangladesh the number NGOs is large, yet the country remains poor. It cannot be denied, however, that civil society can be a good partner to a successful market economy. It is assumed that civil societies engaged in the struggle against the government are always autonomous financially and politically. Most civic societies in Europe and United States are actually funded by the government.

Does the rise of civil society mean the decline of the state? No! Good non-governmental advocacy work will actually tend to strengthen, not weaken state capacity. Civil society groups are in fact effective in shaping state policy: we only have to look at the effect of the ‘green movement' upon environmental state policies. Nothing cripples society more than a weak state; it is true civil society must challenge the state, but in the end both tend to co-operate because they are complementary to each other.

Democratic states play a valuable role in developing a healthy civil society. They can do so by establishing clear, regulations for the non-governmental sector, enacting tax incentives for funding of nonprofit groups, transparent procedures, and pursuing partnerships with non-governmental organisations. “Civil society can and should challenge, irritate, and even, at times, antagonise the state. But civil society and the state need each other and, in the best of worlds, they develop in tandem, not at each other's expense.”

Civil society has gone global. The campaign to ban Landmines sparked interest in the idea of transnational civil society. Activists and others began taking up the phenomenon of advocacy across borders. Global civil society appears a natural extension of the trend toward greater civil society within countries. Most of the new transnational civil society actors are Western groups projecting themselves into developing societies. It must be remembered that transnational civil society constitutes part of the structured Western political and economic dominance in the Third World.