CMDV104 2023 Week 7 Lecture 1a: Civil Society PDF

**CMDV104 OF 2023** **Week- 7 Theme- 5** **30/10/2024** **Lecturer: Dr. Ntini** **Lecture 1a: Civil Society** **Definition of civil society:** - All organisations operating between the state and family - a strong buzzword within development work organisations: (Donors, NGOs; Developme...

**CMDV104 OF 2023** **Week- 7 Theme- 5** **30/10/2024** **Lecturer: Dr. Ntini** **Lecture 1a: Civil Society** **Definition of civil society:** - All organisations operating between the state and family - a strong buzzword within development work organisations: (Donors, NGOs; Development partners all over the world) - A sector that is neither state/public sector nor economic sector/market and located between the state, market and the family. - An intermediary sphere between the state/political sphere, the economic sphere and the family. - Civil society is much talked about but rarely understood - Civil society is not a coherent theory or concept -- Real organisations and just an idea. - An umbrella name for NGOs, clubs, pressure groups, groups of members with a common interest, community-based organisations, development organisations - Also called the voluntary Sector, Non-Profit Sector and Third Sector. **The origins of civil society.** a. **European philosophers** ***Enlightenment-era with thinkers such - Rousseau and Kant:*** - (Civil society was synonymous with the state or the political society.) - Scottish Enlightenment thinkers -Adam Ferguson and Francis Hutcheson: - (Civil society's role was viewed as the protection of personal freedoms against state powers) - Hegel, (civil society the intermediate realm between the family and the state) - Historian and political thinker Alexis De Tocqueville and later academic Robert Putnam: (Civil society as the foundation of a stable democratic polity) b. ***Twentieth century:*** - Civil society organisations occupying the space outside the market, state, and family - Civil society became the realm of culture, ideology, and political debate c. ***The Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci:*** - Civil society was part of the superstructure in addition to the state, but with a different function. - The state served as an arena of force and coercion for capitalist domination - Civil society served as the field through which values and meanings were established, debated, and challenged - Civil society was seen as oriented toward the state and also acting on and counter to state powers d. ***The 1970s and 1980s' social movements in Latin America and Eastern Europe:*** - Civil society became a term used to describe social movements against military dictatorships and totalitarianism) - Civil society included organisations/people/social groups interested in overthrowing regimes from the bottom-up strategies since top-down was failing and dictators were clinging to power. - Civil society meant the potential for local people to change the relationship between state and society - Civil society meant striving for more democratic governments, and a redistribution of power and economic wealth. - Civil society is an idea spelling withdrawal from the state and a moving towards global rules and institutions, where social movements were able to create political space through international links and appeals to international authorities (Kaldor 2003). - Civil society became considered more effective than governments in providing development needs (Leeuwen & Verkoren 2013). e. **1990s** - The idea of civil society as a precondition for democracy spread during the 1990s\` neoliberal agenda - With the end of the Cold War in 1989, the idea of civil society broadened significantly again and became understood in different ways. - Civil society consists of social movements and activists concerned with issues such as human rights, climate change, AIDS/HIV, etc. - Civil society expressed their brand of non-party politics (Kaldor 2003). - For International donors, Western governments, and international institutions, civil society became a strong instrument for "good governance" objectives within the neoliberal "New Policy Agenda". - Civil society became the most effective instrument for the promotion of democracy and for facilitating market reforms. - Civil society came to stand for NGOs, both internationally, and the term came for many to be interchangeable with the concept of democracy itself (Ferguson 2004: 384). - Civil society as forms of organisations, often non-Western, representing a check on state power. - Civil society organisations include local traditional institutions as well as religious and ethnic movements, and students\` movements. - Civil society\'s voice and activity of people organising themselves outside the state and the market. **Readings:** **\[Open\]** - **There is too much literature defining civil society.** - **Access any and read to be very conversant with this concept.** - **Study and master the table/Annexure loaded on learning.** **Good luck** **Dr. Ntini.**