Civil Society

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Civil Society

• By PROF. CHRIS REISS

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What are the definitions of Civil Society in
history?

• 1. Societas civilis
• In the original ancient use of the term it was
  linked to the state, i.e., a rule of law and a
  political community, where violence is minimized
  and only the state had a monopoly on the
  legitimate use of force.

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1st Civil Society Concepts

• Originally indistinguishable from the state and
  it restrained citizens from harming each other.
  Aristotle, Plato and Hobbes (i.e., Leviathan,
  survival of the fittest), gave way to the
  enlightened view that prevented the unwarranted
  intrusions of the state.

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Classically Speaking

• Civil society was equated with politically
  organized secular or religious authorities/states.
  It made civilization possible because people
  lived in law-governed associations protected by
  the coercive power of the state.

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2nd Bourgeois society (Bürgerliche Gesellschaft)

• Definitions Continued
• The arena of ethical life between the family and
  the state (see Hegel Marx)
• Based on ideas from the enlightenment
• e.g., Adam Smith, Markets, social class, civil
  law and welfare organizations were all part of
  Civil Society.

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John Lockes understanding

• A civil society, constituted by property,
  production acquisition required a law-governed
  state to preserve order and protect liberty.
  Living in political freedom and economic activity
  Adam Ferguson feared the corrupting effects of
  self-interest and tried to locate an innate
  ethical sensibility in society.

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Immanuel Kants view

• Civil society was seen as protected liberal
  public sphere enabling people to make free
  choices. With fair and equally applied
  procedures, extensive civil liberties and
  legitimate republican institutions Kant hoped
  individual interests would turn in public good.

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Hegels critique of Kant

• Kants introverted morality
  could never find an empirical referent. Hegel
  distinguished 3 ethical movements mentioned above
  i.e., family, civil society and the state. He
  integrated individual freedoms specified in the
  natural law traditions (Hobbes to Rousseau to
  Kant) with a vision of community within a modern
  exchange with the community quality of moral and
  political life (Sittlichkeit).

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Marxist views

• Marx agreed civil society was a
  problem that had to be overcome, with its
  production and class and the social relations
  associated, but he disagreed with Hegels
  solution. Marxs conclusion that the state could
  not be conceptualized separate from the economic
  processes led him to revolution as the answer.

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Historical Conceptions

• Individual rights and
  participation voiced by Madison (Federalist
  Papers), trends toward associations described by
  Alexis de Tocqueville, The French Revolution,
  recent voices for circles of freedom in eastern
  Europe E. Gellner in the west and R. Putnams
  study of associations in Italy, US elsewhere
  started the debate on Social Capital and defense
  against dominance by any specific group.

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3rd The activist version

• Definitions Continued
• This post-Marxist or Utopian version grew from
  the movements of the 70s and 80s, presupposing
  a state with rule of law but also a need to
  restrain and/or reduce that power. It assumes
  participation in self-organized groups with
  transnational advocacy networks.

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An End to Social Movement?

• As conformity, pretense and
  hypocrisy marked Soviet-style socialism,
  dissident intellectuals theorized about civil
  society in the form of liberal constitutional
  republics but soon these new political structures
  transformed into traditional political structures
  applying the iron logic of the market.

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4thThe neo-liberal version

• Definitions Continued
• In the aftermath of 1989 advances, laissez-faire
  politics or a market in politics developed and
  the non-profit voluntary sector not only checked
  state power, but it started to substitute for it
  and provide direct services offering a safety net
  for the problems of liberalization and economic
  privatization that may fail in its welfare
  responsibilities.

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5th The postmodern version

• Definitions Continued
• This is a larger tent with tolerance at the core.
  Not only does it include Eurocentric
  humanitarian view but it is open to all views,
  including uncivil approaches with a plurality of
  global networks.

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How a situation is framed impacts the perception
of it
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A hand holding five cards

• It was Brunner Postmans famous experiment.

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Most did not notice a black 3 of hearts in place
of a red 3.
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Our life experience effects us

• Only recent research into civil
  society is starting to consider the uniqueness of
  all its possible members. But, is it just an
  idea. Like God you cannot touch it and you cannot
  will yourself into believing either you accept
  it on faith as real or not.

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• John Stuart Mill said, We can not believe a
  proposition only by wishing, or only by dreading,
  to believe it. The most violent inclination to
  find a set of propositions true, will not enable
  the weakest of mankind to believe them without a
  vestige of intellectual ground without any
  evidence
• William James said, We cannot will to believe
  or not to believe, when faith is strong.

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• 
  Civil society constructs, need to be
  operational and measured with a certain degree of
  criterion validity. The different characteristics
  of civil society need to be considered with
  respect to any effect they may have on outcome
  measure, both as main effect variables and as
  part of an interaction effect variable in dynamic
  combination with other variables.

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In Conclusion

• If anyone wants a copy of my full
  report and a partially annotated bibliography of
  dozens of books on the topic just send me an
  email and I will forward you a copy. of these
  ideas we have yet to expand on.
• CJ_at_ReissCorp.com
• 
  Note Some info adapted from Keane Kaldor

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Next week Fotis will pick up on some
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Santi will deal with this

• He will be discussing the civil society movement
  against the authoritarian governments in Spain
  and Chile latter in this discussion.

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Studies of the role of civil society during the
3rd wave

• Elites or top-down reform bias in
  literature (Poulantzas, 1976).
• The groups which form the legitimized opposition
  is thought to comprise the whole spectrum of the
  opposition. (Grugel, 1991

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Problem

• It overlooks the force behind the regime' s
  willing in the last process to negotiate
  with such legitimized opposition. 

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Example cases -

• where significant role of civil society force
  play a crucial part on the road to democracy

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Spain/Chile

•  labor movements pressurized the regime to put an
  end to authoritarian rule
•  dramatic labour protests undermined the attempt
  to establish the Francoism without Franco
• It is the labor movement which helped define a
  more moderate way for the opposition
•         Chile  - the revitalization of opposition
  party is the result of mass mobilization