Importance of the Civil Society |
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A few absolutist kings of the past have - despite their methods - brought also progress to their countries or solved imminent problems. Some are now even revered in history books. This doesn't make absolutist kingdom a particularly good system.
With time, people realised that one feature which makes out a good system is its capacity to perform reasonably well, even if a few of its leaders don't. The concept on which modern western states are based is one which uses checks and balances to make sure no individual and no institution can become so powerful that it can make the lives of all other people miserable. Parliament, executive power and justice system are separated and can keep each other into constitutional limits.
Not every country which has pro forma institutions of this kind, really has a functioning democracy. Some very undemocratic countries have institutions which bear similar names, but the parliament may consist of nothing but the docile followers of the all-powerful president, while the justice system can be just one branch of the repression machine.
Even countries which have started a transformation towards democracy, don't have to arrive there and for various reasons can fall back into an authoritarian pattern of power distribution. It is important to bear in mind that just a large building in the capital with „Parliament“ written on it and some smart, young, modern looking officials in the foreign ministry don't make up a democratic system.
Whenever the transition stops and the people's opportunity to influence the overall policy is slowly taken away from them, the checks and balances which usually work in western democracies are simply not yet in place. Media can get intimidated, opposition parties can be either co-interested, banned, „encouraged“ to split up or their access to the public is cut, courageous judges or prosecutors may have „accidents“ or be „promoted“ to some distant province.
In such situations the civil society is an important safety net. It allows people to express themselves directly and resist. It also gives them the opportunity to inform the rest of the world about what is happening.
Even when democratic transition does progress, it often happens that none of the established parties dares to pick up some topic of vital interest. The civil society can fill the gap: associations can e.g. protest against an unjust clause of a new law project which all parliamentary parties ignored. Or they can, as in the west, bring new topics (like environmental problems) to public discussion long before parties pick them up. Finally civil society can advocate the rights of minorities which are too small to count politically. Due to civil society the public discussion is much enriched and the lapse of time from when a problem arises until solutions are asked and offered is greatly reduced. Civil society adds pluralism and flexibility to the society as a whole.
The importance of civil society is not only functional (i.e. in term of its usefulness, of what it can do) but also constitutive (as such). If you live in a country or region where free association is either forbidden or simply inexistent, you have no possibility to have any participation into public decisions between elections and outside political parties. So if the parliament decides to double taxes and use this to increase the MP's income, you might well have to finance this for the next couple of years without any possibility to protest. Or if you are a person with a disability and no political party cares, you won't be able to require publicly any facilities or support, or even protest against their lack.
The final aspect in favour of the importance of an autonomous civil society is that it works based on ideas, not on prestige, power or money. Associations have no power to make, change or abolish laws or to shape the state's policy. Associations never have the financial resources of powerful economic groups. So which people are going to be attracted in the active nucleus of NGOs ? Which people will be ready to work long and hard for modest income, no real power and no career future ? It will be people who really believe in the importance of certain ideals, or topics. Even if not all people will agree on all these topics and even if many associations might actually never reach their goals, they add the idealistic, moral voices to the public arena.
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