Civil Society: It's Relevance in an Irish & EU context by Sean Healy

Summary of presentation to the Wheel conference on civil society
Dublin, September 22nd, 2001

1. What is civil society?

Civil society has been described or defined in a variety of ways. Often, its meaning is determined by what a particular group wishes it to achieve. For some it is synonymous with a search for civility. Conservatives see it as being primarily about giving a larger role to community-based charities to address areas that Government does not wish to be involved in or that Government fails to deal with effectively. For Libertarians civil society is often used in the same sense as privatisation. They argue that the marketplace should be expanded through privatisation and the role of the state should be limited further. For Liberals, civil society plays a key role in the democratic project. Community participation in public projects is deepened, the performance of Government is improved and the public is more willing to accept initiatives, programmes and changes they have played a role in developing. For many the idea of civil society contains some combination of these components.

As a starting point for us it might be best to see civil society as a domain of secondary associations that mediate between the primary domains of market, state and family. This is the description used by Joe Larragy in his paper presented to the Irish Social Policy Association last July. In this Larragy draws on the extensive theoretical work done by Cohen and Arato in 1992.

The family domain is at the other end of the spectrum to the market. The market, however, is dominant and this makes the family vulnerable to the disembeddedness already identified. (It should be noted in this context that some people see families as part of civil society arguing that civil society covers all parts of society where non-political institutions operate. This is one of many contested issues in this arena.)

Larragy identifies the state as the third of the primary domains. It has a monopoly of force within a given territory. It has formidable power yet it is not initially at least a public and accountable entity. Representative democracy and the right to participation of all in the electoral process that chooses governments are hard won gains but are far from sufficient to ensure that the state is accountable. Civil society associations often play a key role in challenging a dominant status quo that may well be oppressive of some groups or sectors in society. The emergence of the welfare state gave greater legitimacy to the state in the second half of the twentieth century. These, however, are now under threat with the spread of globalisation.

The idea of civil society is not a new one, nor is it a passing fad. It has played a crucial role in shaping the western world for centuries. It has impacted especially in the social and political spheres. If one were to include the classical and biblical traditions, its impact goes back millenia.

Civil society represents a search for a greater degree of harmony, balance and cohesion. There is a range of interpretations of what the term means but it can be seen as involving a desire to overcome social division and political inertia or chaos. It names the gaps and the failures, the injustices and the conflicts. It responds to these and seeks to transform them in a variety of ways, many of which are very creative. "While discourse is one expression of civil society, civil society is not only about discourse, but also involves a more practical working out of ideas, passions and frustrations, often demonstrating for the seemingly utopian or against the seemingly inevitable. Often it is simply 'demonstrating the possible'"

Michael Waltzer describes civil society as "the space of uncoerced human association" and "the set of relational networks - formed for the sake of family, faith, interest, and ideology - that fill this space."

Groups, organisations etc. that form civil society are voluntary and seek to serve larger social purposes. They have a 'values' orientation. Their authority does not come from the coercive power of legal monopoly. Rather they have to 'win' their legitimacy. It is their social and democratic purpose that is important in terms of this discussion. Civil society institutions do many things but of particular interest to us are the following:

They mediate between the individual and the large mega-structures of the market and the state, tempering the negative social tendencies associated with each.

They create important social capital; and

They impart democratic values and habits.

2. Civil Society in Ireland

In Ireland, traditionally, there has been a very substantial involvement by people in a wide range of civil society groupings and organisations. The European Values and Attitudes study of 1981 found that over half of all Irish people said they belonged to at least one voluntary organisation and 22% said they did voluntary work for one. In this context there was an exceptionally high involvement in religious, social welfare and youth organisations. The numbers involved in volunteering have fallen dramatically since then. Yet there is still substantial involvement and recognition at many levels that such activity is important in society.

The past two decades have seen substantial developments in the civil society arena. The development of social partnership is the principal one of these. It drew together trade unions, employers and farming organisations to negotiate national agreements with Government. Since 1996 there has been a fourth pillar in this process, composed of organisations and groups in the community and voluntary sector. The inclusion of this pillar followed a long process in which a number of organisations in the community and voluntary sector focused specifically on addressing issues of public policy and impacting on Government decision-making. Detailed analysis of what has happened, its impact and how it should develop in the future is beyond the scope of this presentation. However, it is important to acknowledge that these developments are within the ambit of civil society and should be analysed from that perspective (among others). Of particular interest in this context is the question of whether maintaining independence or developing interdependence is the best approach for civil society organisations and groups. Or whether both can be combined. Or whether these organisations risk emasculation through co-option. Or whether the partnership process in which they are involved, while being far from ideal, is the best available option and more likely to achieve the outcomes these organisations desire.

But there is far more to civil society than social partnership. There are a wide range of other civil society organisations and groups dealing with a wide range of issues. The recent discussions around the publication of the Government's White Paper on Supporting Voluntary Activity served to highlight this fact very strongly.

3. Challenges for civil society today and tomorrow

There are many challenges facing civil society in Ireland and in the EU today and tomorrow. I list a few that I consider to be among the most important but I do not consider this to be in any way an exhaustive listing.

3.1. The quality of public debate. There is an urgent need for public debate on a range of issues concerning the kind of society we wish to develop for the future. In recent years the quality of such debate has been very poor with little or no discussion on key issues. Some of these subsequently erupt into major confrontations between civil society groups and government in which there is little dialogue or listening. The decline in participation in the democratic process is another manifestation of the same problem. The need for ongoing public debate on key issues is a major challenge for civil society.

3.2. The issue of freedom, human dignity and the common good. The rise of an ideology of individual autonomy and the pre-eminence of individual choice has led to a decline in social authority. The question is not one of eliminating basic freedoms but rather of finding a balance between freedoms and the common good so as to ensure that everyone's human dignity is respected and promoted. The common good consists of specific moral and social goods such as justice, compassion and consideration for all others. These are desired and deserved by all human beings. How balances are to be struck and how the common good is to be achieved are major issues in the contemporary world.

3.3. The issue of citizenship. We live in a world where people are seen more and more as private consumers. We need to develop the deeper understanding of people as subjects and citizens. The growing realisation that community-based solutions are likely to be most effective in a great many areas of public policy goes to this point as well.

3.4. The issue of an emerging two-tier society. While there has been marked progress on a range of fronts such as employment, the land of the Celtic Tiger economy is becoming more deeply divided in many ways. Deeply divided two-tier societies are not good for people on either side of the divide. This widening of the gap must be reversed.

3.5. The issue of sustainability. The need for developments to be socially, economically and environmentally sustainable is recognised more and more. Yet much needs to be done to ensure that Ireland's development is sustainable under these headings.

3.6. The issue of progress. What constitutes progress? Now that Ireland has a level of income above the EU average, what do we consider to be progress? We don't have an EU level of infrastructure or an EU level of services. Do we see the attainment of these as progress? What would that demand of us? What else would we consider to be essential if Ireland is to genuinely progress in the years ahead?

4. An idea for progressing civil society

Do we need specific arenas in which issues such as these can be discussed, debated and progressed? One arena already exists in the structures of social partnership. However the social partners with the Community and Voluntary Pillar do not claim to represent all parts of the sector. Nor do they claim to represent all aspects of civil society. While the four pillars of social partnership represent large segments of civil society, they do not represent many others. Brigid Reynolds and I have proposed the establishment of a Forum on Civil Society in which a civil society debate could be conducted on an on-going basis. Some development along these lines is required if civil society's crucial issues are to be addressed.

References

1. Joe Larragy, Civil Society versus Market in Irish Social Policy, Paper presented to the annual conference of the Irish Social Policy Association, Trinity College Dublin, July 27th, 2001.

Jean L. Cohen and Andrew Arato, 1992, Civil Society and Political Theory. Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Larragy, op.cit. p. 3.

Larragy, ibid. p. 5

Michael Waltzer, "The Idea of Civil Society", The Kettering Review, Winter 1997, p. 8.

Cf. Don E. Eberly, The Meaning, Origins and Applications of Civil Society in The Essential Civil Society Reader, Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.

Michael Fogerty, Liam Ryan and Joe Lee (1984), Irish Values and Atitudes: The irish Report of the European Values Study, Dublin: Dominican Publications.

Sean Healy and Brigid Reynolds, (2000), Developing Participation in a Changing Context, in Reynolds and Healy (eds.) Participation and Democracy, Dublin: CORI.