Civil Society

1
Civil Society

• What is civil society? Why it is important for
  democratic politics?
• Civil society in Latvia. Problems and
  perspectives.
• Ivars Ijabs, Department for Political Science
• University of Latvia

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What is civil society?
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Civil society

• Narrow sense all kinds of non-political
  associations, NGOs, citizens initiatives etc.
• Descriptive

• Broad sense not only associations, but also
  particular values (e.g., toleration, solidarity,
  respect for and trust to democratic institutions
  etc.)
• Descriptive normative

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Is civil society...

• A part of society?
• ... if so, is there something like civil
  society in every human society?
• Or a type of society?
• ... if so, does it mean simply the Western type
  of society?
• The term civil society signifies a particular
  kind of relationship between political power (the
  state) and citizens

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Civil society four dimensions

• Individual rights as the source and the limit of
  political power
• John Locke The Second Treatise on Government
  (1690)
• Legitimate political power can be based only on
  individual rights and consent
• Individual Life, liberty, property as the
  limitation of state power

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Civil society four dimensions

• 2. Separation of Civil society/State
• G.W.F. Hegel (Grundlinien der Philosophie des
  Rechts (1821))
• two spheres of two different logics
• Civil society individuality
• State community, public good

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Civil society four dimensions

• 3. Voluntary associations A. de Tocqueville
  (Democracy in America (1835-40))
• In a modern, democratic society, where are no
  natural authorities like aristocracy
• people have to form associations to preserve
  themselves from eventually tyrannical state power
  

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Civil society four dimensions

• 4. The public sphere
• Open, informed discussion among private citizens
  as a legitimation of political power
• Transparency
• Rationalization
• Involvement
• J. Habermas Structural Transformation of the
  Public Sphere. (1962)
• Between Facts and Norms. (1992)

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The public sphere (after Habermas)
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New challenges for civil society

• These four classical dimensions still represent
  the basis of the discourse on civil society.
• But there are several new problems
• Crisis of welfare democracies in the West
• Clients of the state versus Citizens?
• Administrative and procedures of the state have
  become alienated from the people
• Manipulated public opinion and elitist-style
  politics

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New challenges for civil society

• 2. Collapse of the Soviet bloc in the East
• Role of civil society in East-European
  transformations
• The weakness of civil society in post-communist
  countries

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New challenges for civil society

• 3. Globalization
• Civil society traditionally bound up with the
  nation-state. The latter loses its omnipotence
  gradually.
• Individualization as a threat to civil society
  people lose their relations with particular
  communities (Z.Bauman vagabounds and
  tourists)
• The global civil society?

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Global Civil Society a New Paradigm?

• Traditional Civil society is the State
• Modern Civil society vs. the State
• Post-modern (Global) Civil society among/beyond
  the States?

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Hopes and visions GCS

• Extension of community?
• Renewed sense of political action?
• Extension of democracy and human rights?
• Moral foundation and control of interstate
  politics?

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How civil is GCS?

• Global civil society to influence
• Interstate organizations (G8, EU, IMF etc.)?
• Separate states (Amnesty International Israel)?
• Big Business (Greenpeace vs. Shell)?
• ... (Other GCS units)?

• (National) Civil society to question and
  strenghten the legitimacy of the political power
  by means of civil participation and discussion in
  the public sphere.
• Towards constitutional and democratic state

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Civil society in Eastern Europe

• The term civil society was half-forgotten in
  the political science until 1980.
• It was revived mostly due to Eastern European
  opposition movements in 1980s
• Prominent role the Polish movement Solidarnošc
  (Adam Michnik et. al.)
• Only from there in the Western political
  science (J. Keane, J. Cohen, A. Arato, T.
  Arton-Gash)
• E. Gellner The slogan is born

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Civil society in Eastern Europe

• In these movements strong moral undertones
• Vaclav Havel Anti-political politics, individual
  conscience, truth, spiritual values
• In Latvia similar attitudes

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The weakness of civil society in Eastern Europe

• Civil society in post-communist countries is
  widely recognized as relatively weak
• Marc Morje Howard. The Weakness of Civil Society
  in Post-Communist Europe. Cambridge 2002
• There is also a division separating
  post-communist countries (e.g. Poland) and
  post-Soviet countries (e.g. Latvia, Estonia,
  Russia)
• In the latter countries the situation is even
  worse
• The situation is improving...
• ... but very slowly (generational change)

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Causes of weakness

• Communist legacies?
• Political involvement as hypocritical
• All associations state-controlled
• Rapid transformation?
• Neo-liberal policies as atomizing and
  unsuccessful. Disappointment.
• Nationalist/fundamentalist attitudes?
• dangerous to civil orientations
• Persistence of friendship networks?

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2 aspects

1. Associations (type, membership, sources of
   financing)
2. Attitudes of political culture (trust in
   institutions, democratic/authoritarian
   orientations, support for the regime et.al.)

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Membership in associations

• 2003 61,9 of population no associational
  membership (in 1998 80)
• (Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is
  Latvia? P. 156, 227)
• ... although there are 5000 functioning NGOs
  in Latvia
• Most of them are very small
• 0,6 associational memberships per capita
• Compare US 3,6 Finland 2,5 Brazil 2,1
  Slovenia 1,3
• The role of divided informational space?

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Membership in associations

• Types of organizations
• Religious organizations 10,3
• Organizations for amateur art activities 8,3
• Trade unions 6,9
• Youth clubs and student corporations 4,6
• Most memberships are a-political
• (Until recently trade-union-membership has
  usually been purely formal and inherited from
  Soviet times)
• (Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is
  Latvia? P. 227)

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Membership in political associations

• Membership in political parties lowest in the
  EU (0,9 of population)
• Political parties small and internally
  undemocratic
• Membership in associations devoted to solving
  human rights problems 1,1
• The civil society is politically rather passive

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Sources of financing

• NGOs in Latvia are financed by different
  sources, e.g.
• Donations (most of them foreign) - 37,4
• Membership fees, entrance fees etc 15
• Economic activity 10,2
• Associations (esp. in the corruption prevention,
  gender issues, transparency) in Latvia are
  strongly dependent on foreign support.

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State support

• State support for civil society mostly in
  sports and cultural organizations
• Year 2004 The National Programme Strenghtening
  Civil Society 2005-2009 (Adopted in Government
  February 2005) complex activities to educate
  and motivate citizens for civil engegement
  coordination of state policies and financing for
  the sector.
• But state support or state control?

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Attitudes Belief in being able to influence
government
Would you say you could do something if the government adopted decisions against the public interest? Definitely could do something 4,0
Would you say you could do something if the government adopted decisions against the public interest? Might be able to do something 22,1
Would you say you could do something if the government adopted decisions against the public interest? Most likely unable to do anything 27,5
Would you say you could do something if the government adopted decisions against the public interest? Unable to do anything 40,4
Would you say you could do something if the government adopted decisions against the public interest? D/S, N/A 6.0
Would you say you could do something if the government adopted decisions against the public interest? Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 222 Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 222
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Attitudes Interest in politics
All in all, how interested are you in politics? Very interested 4,3
All in all, how interested are you in politics? Interested 35,8
All in all, how interested are you in politics? Not very interested 50,6
All in all, how interested are you in politics? Not at all interested 9,1
All in all, how interested are you in politics? D/S, N/A 0,2
All in all, how interested are you in politics? Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 222 Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 222
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Attitudes Trust in institutions the Government
Trust in institutions Government Trust 25
Trust in institutions Government Distrust 63,5
Trust in institutions Government D/S, N/A 11,6
Trust in institutions Government Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 225 Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 225
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Attitudes Trust in institutions Saeima
Trust in institutions Saeima Trust 22
Trust in institutions Saeima Distrust 66,7
Trust in institutions Saeima D/S, N/A 11,4
Trust in institutions Saeima Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 222 Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 222
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Attitudes Trust in institutions Political
Parties
Trust in institutions Political parties Trust 10.4
Trust in institutions Political parties Distrust 75,7
Trust in institutions Political parties D/S, N/A 13,9
Trust in institutions Political parties Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 222 Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 222
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Attitudes Unfair or Inconsiderate Behaviour by
Representatives of the State Authority
Have the representatives of state authority been unfair or inconsiderate toward you, or have not provided the required information? Yes 13,9
Have the representatives of state authority been unfair or inconsiderate toward you, or have not provided the required information? No 82,2 (!)
Have the representatives of state authority been unfair or inconsiderate toward you, or have not provided the required information? D/S, N/A 3,9
Have the representatives of state authority been unfair or inconsiderate toward you, or have not provided the required information? Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 222 Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 222
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Attitudes Trust in institutions Newspapers
Trust in institutions Newspapers Trust 59.9
Trust in institutions Newspapers Distrust 24,6
Trust in institutions Newspapers D/S, N/A 15,6
Trust in institutions Newspapers Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 228 Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 228
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Attitudes Trust in institutions Television
Trust in institutions Television Trust 66,7
Trust in institutions Television Distrust 20,8
Trust in institutions Television D/S, N/A 12,6
Trust in institutions Television Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 227 Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 227
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Attitudes Satisfaction with the development of
democracy
In general, how satisfied are you with the development of democracy in our country? Very satisfied 2,2
In general, how satisfied are you with the development of democracy in our country? Quite satisfied 30,3
In general, how satisfied are you with the development of democracy in our country? Rather dissatisfied 44,7
In general, how satisfied are you with the development of democracy in our country? Very dissatisfied 16,9
In general, how satisfied are you with the development of democracy in our country? D/S, N/A 5,9
In general, how satisfied are you with the development of democracy in our country? Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 218 Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 218
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Attitudes Authoritarian preferences
A few strong leaders will do more good to our country than all the laws and discussions combined Fully agree 22,5
A few strong leaders will do more good to our country than all the laws and discussions combined Partially agree 36
A few strong leaders will do more good to our country than all the laws and discussions combined Partially disagree 16,6
A few strong leaders will do more good to our country than all the laws and discussions combined Fully disagree 11,3
A few strong leaders will do more good to our country than all the laws and discussions combined D/S, N/A 6.0
A few strong leaders will do more good to our country than all the laws and discussions combined Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 219 Source Rozenvalds (ed.) How democratic is Latvia? P. 219
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Conclusions

• Although the voter turnout isnt low (6.7.
  Saeima 71,9, 8. Saeima 71,3), people feel
  themselves alienated from democratic
  institutions
• Low trust in Saeima and in the Government
• Extremely low trust in political parties
• High trust in newspapers and television
• People dont trust government, although they have
  no personal experiences of injustice and
  mistreatment

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Conclusions

• People tend not to believe in the meaningfulness
  of democratic actions on behalf of civil society
• Other surways show that there are also strong
  preferences for more state involvement in society

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Perspectives of CS in Latvia

• At the moment the situation is gradually
  improving due to
• Generational change and Western influences
• Consolidation of democracy
• Socio-economic improvements
• ... but perspectives are rather unclear due to
  different risks (social problems, nationalism)