polsm19 civilsocietyfrancoishoutart edit feb 2010

Civil Society - What is it?

Prepared by

Dr Janet M Eaton,

Community Political Power

Acadia University, POLS 3542, 2002


• Historical perspective

• Political ideological perspectives

• Neo-liberal perspectives

• Global civil society perspectives*


References for this power point • Francoise Houtart. Civil Society and Public Spaces

Unpublished paper presented at WSF 2001. Houtart is the Editor of - The Other Davos - online reference term paper

• Francois Houtart & Globalization-Europe Magazine 18/11/01

• UNDP CSOPP -Civil Society Programme Frameworkhttp://www.undp.org/csopp/CSO/NewFiles/programmesglobalfmwrk2.htm

• Philosophy and Civil Society Inventing Post Modern Culture

http://www.civsoc.com/htm

• Tonnies 1887. Community and Civil Society

http://uk.cambridge.org/politicaltheory/catalogue/0521561191/


/ Civil Society Typology - Houtart

1. “Bourgeois” concept of civil society (From the Top)

2. “Angelic” concept of civil society

3. “People’s” concept of civil society (From the Bottom)


Houtart says the Concept has undergone significant evolution throughout history:

• Time of the Renaissance -opposite of ‘natural society i.e. organized social order -superior because rational and civilized

• For Adam Smith - was everything constructed by society

• For Hegel -the social space between family and state

• For Antonio Gramschi -2 realties of economic relations

<> Political Society and <> Civil Society

In this concept, civil society, sits between the State & Market


1. Bourgeois concept of civil society (From the Top)• Dominant Class Concept of Civil Society • Seen from above • An essential element in class strategy. • Place where individuals can develop their potential

and space in which to exercise freedoms • Business is the pivot of civil society as seen from

above• Followed by schools, religions, media, non-profit

sector, & voluntary organizations to fill in the gaps in the system


1. Bourgeois concept of civil society (From the Top)

In this view from above the State’s role is limited to

three functions:

1. To furnish a juridical framework guaranteeing private property & freedom to do business

2. To assure the functioning of social continuance - education, health etc.

3. To protect individuals - military and police



Recall IMF chief Michael Camdessus 3-hands statement:

“ the invisible hand of the market, the hand of the State which organizes the rules of the game ; and the hand of charity , taking care of those unfortunates who slip through the net.”



Houtart says that the bourgeois concept of strengthening Civil Society means:

• expanding the freedom to do business• fuelling the energies of the entrepreneurs, • diminishing the role of the state and finally

• maintaining the social relationships that assure class domination, now on a globalized scale.



Houtart says out of this emerges a coherent strategy:

It is a matter of :• Evaluating the network of organizations which

make up its fabric• putting restraints on ideological organizations

• promoting those voluntary organizations which are not contesting the status quo



This makes it possible • to channel the social demands of groups and

deprived classes & to break them up• to co-opt certain voluntary organizations , whether

religious or not, especially in the business of caring for the poor.


1. Bourgeois concept of civil society (From the Top) Effects worth noting - as Market becomes the universal norm for

functioning of human relationships it structures not only world of consumerism but also that of culture. See shifts from:

Politics Market Forces Development GrowthCitizen Individual consumerPolitical Engagement Cultural Reference points of Ethnic, race, religion


1. Bourgeois concept of civil society (From the Top) In other words • Civil Society becomes depoliticized • Politics becomes more illusory ‘virtual’• Social movements search for their identity in their own

back yard, breaking with political tradition• Some NGO’s cultivate a timidly anti-government

strategy• Religious movements sprout up based on individual

salvation - and stripped of any social goals



Houtart concludes• We must be very conscious of what Civil Society

signifies in the ‘dominant class’• We must not be taken in by similarity of vocabulary. • When WB/ WEF governments speak of Civil Society -

it has nothing to do with what it signifies for the social movements present at Seattle , Prague or Port Alegre




2. Angelic concept of civil society

3. People’s concept of civil society (From the Bottom)


/ 2. Angelic concept of civil society • According to this perspective Civil Society is made up

of orgs formed by deprived social groups, by the NGO’s, by non-profit sector of the economy, and by institutions of common interest -education, culture, health.

• Sort of ‘third Sector’ independent of the State • Made up of the organizations of citizens all of whom

desire good, and who wish to change things in an unjust world


/ 2. Angelic concept of civil society • Houtart is critical of this perspective because while it

leads to pursuing of goals responding to true need, it in no way leads to a re-arrangement of social relationships

• Although this concept does make it possible to fight social battles and

• it is good at denouncing the abuses of the system• this does not lead to a critique of the system’s logic


/ 2. Angelic concept of civil society

While it shows desire to change society’s paradigms in the long run it simply

generates ineffectiveness !!


/ 2. Angelic concept of civil society In some cases it shadows the ‘dominant class’

concept of civil society -which is why institutions sharing this visions of society are target of takeovers by TNC’s, OECD, IMF etc.

and of calls for global partnership governance

structures.



1. Bourgeois concept of civil society [From the Top]




/3. People’s concept of civil society• In this perspective civil Society is a place where social

inequalities are constructed and at its heart are institutions and organizations representing divergent interests.

• A change of heart will not be enough to transform societies automatically, even if this is an important step.

• It is necessary to create different power relationships


/3. People’s concept of civil society• Social relationships are different than 19th C with

important implications for Civil Society ! • Worker-Capital relationship have been de-regulated by

neo-liberal orientation esp. in South • New technologies, corp mergers, globalization of the

Market, volatility of finance capital etc. extend the logic of capitalism while contributing to the diffusion of its effects in space & re-distribution in time

• Fewer & fewer boundaries • Social relationships of capitalism more diffused , less

visible


/3. People’s concept of civil society• Civil Society is therefore forged by the market through

unequal relationships • The Commons are monopolized by economic forces• Dominant groups operate globally, using governments

not to redistribute wealth & protect the vulnerable but to control populations (migrations, social movements, popular civil society) and to serve the market

• Mechanism vary and are introduced in stages,


/3. People’s concept of civil societyMechanisms - treaties of free exchange• juridicial reforms , education reforms• privatization of social security • privatization of health services • reductions in subsidies for social research • reduction in support for people’s organizations• suppression of left -wing press • control of telephone communication systems • emasculation of progressive sectors of religious

institutions to• putting NGO’s under trusteeship.


/3. People’s concept of civil society In short …..• The market has been engaged in the taming and

controlling of the State and of the organs of the UN, and control of Civil Society

• On the basis of this kind of analysis a deeper conscience has also been developing .

• There exists a Civil Society as Seen from Below !!! • One which is the expression of social groups that are

alienated and oppressed who are unraveling the root causes of their situation.

Civil Society - What is it? /3. People’s concept of civil society[] That is what is behind the kinds of resistances of today

which are gradually becoming global

[] That is what is reclaiming the public space to be at the service of human beings in their entirety and not of a minority

[] That is what is working to transform into citizens all those people who are floundering in the horrors of shapeless economies , the people in fact, who for the globalized market make up the ‘useless masses’ !!!

Civil Society - What is it? /3. People’s concept of civil society - Characteristics• The importance of events today must make us mindful of history

• Social movements did not begin yesterday

• The history of peoples is strewn with resistance movements - resistance to Capitalism, Colonialism, etc.

• The Worker movement has established itself as a paradigm of social struggle for almost 2 Centuries

• Peasant revolts have shaken agricultural societies when agrarian capitalism first introduced

• Countless original peoples or ‘first nations’ have fought vs cultural and physical destruction under mercantile expansion or conquest of their territory

Civil Society - What is it? /3. People’s concept of civil society -

Characteristics New element in social movements is Ecological movement

• Destruction of environment was not hated by socialism which defined its objective to develop production to catch up to capitalism

• Destruction more devastating in last 30 years in neo-liberal phase of capitalism

Pacifist movements emerged during Cold War -

• took their place in anti-war tradition of 19th century

Somewhat stagnant now but events like Gulf War or Kosovo remind us Economic imperialism can’t function with out arms -NATO etc.

Civil Society - What is it? /3. People’s concept of civil society - Characteristics• Lastly we see a proliferation of NGO’s -some go along

with establishment- others identify with peoples struggles • Old social movements, new movements with goals cutting

across class relationships [women, indigenous, environment, cultural identity]

• it is important to have criteria for judging these organizations and movements

• JE – added April 2007 – cross reference with JE power point on Social Movements

• JE added – April 2007 – paradigm shift – small = community- urban break down to communities – see Cuban film etc.

Civil Society - What is it? /3. People’s concept of civil society - Characteristics• Post modernism speaks of the end of the ‘great narratives

of systems and grand structures • Fundamental as the critique of modernity may be, the

contribution of post modernism is of little help to us in analyzing contemporary Civil Society

To whit [Panel - after Seattle ]• and even less help in galvanizing it as the source of

resistance and effective struggle • So the criteria we use to analyze the multiple initiatives

which make up Civil Society seen from Below will be their anti -system character


/3. People’s concept of civil society - Characteristics The degree to which each one contributes to questioning

the logic of the capitalist system. E.g. • Landless peasants > alienation as land commodified• Peasants & natives peoples first victims of SAPS• Women bearing weight of poverty-feminization of poverty.• Middle classes weakened by monetary politics &

speculative financial transactions• Health wrecked by commercialization of health sector• Social policies made impossible by debt & SAPS • Cultural heritage wiped out by systematic Americanization


/3. People’s concept of civil society - Characteristics • Researchers limited by obligation to be profitable• Communication systems controlled by economic interests• art reduced to mere commercial value• agriculture dominated by chemical and agro-business

industries• thousands of animal /plant species becoming extinct• environment degraded by development defined in terms of

growth exclusively


/3. People’s concept of civil society - Characteristics • This situation demands that the movements & organization

of ‘Civil Society Seen From Below’

effect a Delegitimization of the present economic system !• Not simply condemning as leaders of churches do & even

prominent supporters of existing system !• It is vital to denounce the logic which presides over the way

the system is constructed and over its practices ! • In all it is a matter of searching for alternatives !!


/3. People’s concept of civil society - Characteristics• Not alternatives within the system like the Third Way

espoused by reformists hopeful capitalism can be

humanized . • No - rather the creation of a successful post-capitalist

organization of the economy , • It is a long term project !! • It must also include a utopian dimension -outlining the type

of society which one wishes to construct . • It must also include medium and short term goals


/3. People’s concept -What Kind of civil society ?1. Pursuit of anti-system activities -bringing together all those

involved to restructure another kind of economy, of politics, another culture. It has a need for intellectuals working with the social movements -it must formulate its own agenda and forms of expression -The Other Davos- Porto Alegre is one of these forms

2. It is a storehouse of utopias, which mobilize people , which rekindle hope, which are built in the concrete of social struggles and never weakened by concrete action -but remain like a lighthouse in the lives of the group


/3. People’s concept -What Kind of civil society ?3. Must seek for alternatives at all levels -whether in the

large political battlegrounds , in international organizations like the UN or in daily life of the impoverished, in culture, in respect for nature, & organization of production , in development and consumption - a Huge Task!


/3. People’s concept -What Kind of civil society ?4. Fourth aspect is reclaiming the commons !• This is the very articulation of politics !! • The task is to construct a ‘relationship of power’ strong

enough to execute decisions• It is the condition for the establishment of true democracy,

not excluding electoral dimension, must recover the use of the commons.

• Requires a learning process of social movements to counter the real devaluation of politics

• Seems likely for future a plurality of organizations -> the new relationship of strength will be constructed


/3. People’s concept -What Kind of civil society ?5. Fifthly and finally convergences !! • globalizing of resistance movements and struggles is the

immediate goal -very concretely • the great proliferation of social movements can be powerful

force it they move forward in practical convergence, • The year 2000 was the year of convergences • The years to come will be of ‘consolidation’• But it will be necessary to provide the movement with

means to operate effectively in the analytical mode. .


/3. People’s concept -What Kind of civil society ?5. Fifthly and finally convergences !!

• That is what the Alternative Forum proposes to

accomplish !!


/3. People’s concept -Conclusion

• Our understanding of Civil Society must be aligned with the definition as Seen From Below

• It will only be globalized to extent it exists at local level -convergences can only bring together forces that already exist

• The concrete modalities of action are countless • They will be given definition by actors in diverse fields • The WSF is a place and opportunity for such definition


/3. People’s concept -Conclusion• We have tried to reflect on the - foundations

- challenges

- goals

• It remains to determine the means !! • Interaction with most experienced movements in each field

will make it possible• To reclaim the commons as we are doing in Porto Alegre is

already to construct Civil Society From Below on a world scale !!!!!


Civil Society Typology - Houtart




polsm19 civilsocietyfrancoishoutart edit feb 2010

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