THE WORLD OF CIVIL SOCIETIES/ MASTER’S PROGRAM OF CIVIL SOCIETY, 2008UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ

Esa Konttinen

CIVIL SOCIETY FROM A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

http://kans.jyu.fi/aineistot/esitysaineistoja

WHAT CIVIL SOCIETY?

• CIVIL SOCIETY• NONPROFIT SECTOR• THIRD SECTOR

• FIRST SECTOR: ECONOMY, • SECOND: PUBLIC SECTOR - THE STATE -,• FOURTH: FAMILY AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS

• ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE • “DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA”

• PUT FREE ASSOCIATIONS AND ASSOCIATIONAL LIFE INTO THE FOCUS

• THE IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS TO PREVENT POWER MONOPOLIES IN SOCIETY

• THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSOCIATIONS FOR DEMOCRACY• THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSOCIATIONS FOR BELONGING TO

COMMUNITY, ENGAGEMENT IN CONTRAST TO ISOLATION• THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSOCIATIONS TO CREATE TRUST

AMONG CITIZENS

MAIN SECTORS OF SOCIETAL LIFE

STATE ECONOMY

CIVIL SOCIETY

ELEMENTS OF CIVIL SOCIETY

• FREE ASSOCIATIONS –THE CORE OF C.S.

• INSTITUTIONS LIKE FOUNDATIONS, CHURCHES, PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, POLITICAL PARTIES, PRIVATE CHARITY INSTITUTIONS, ETC

• INFORMAL GROUPS OF CITIZENS

• SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

WHY CIVIL SOCIETY?

- “A GLOBAL ASSOCIATIONAL REVOLUTION IS GOING ON” (LESTER

M. SALAMON)

- CIVIL SOCIETY SECTOR IS A MAJOR SOCIAL, POLITICAL,

CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC FORCE ALLOVER THE WORLD

- VITAL FUNCTIONS OF CIVIL SOCIETY AND CIVIC ACTIVITY FOR

SOCIETIES AND PEOPLE

Functions of civil society; civil society offers a place for citizens

• to formulate and organize their interests and values and to turn them into collective action (political function, advocacy function)

• to create and to help to deliver vital human services (health, education, councelling, aid to the poor, etc. (service function)

• to empower the disadvantages, and to bring unaddressed problems to public attention (empowerment function)

• to give expression to artistic, religious, cultural, ethnic, social, and recreational impulses of individuals (expressive functions)

• to build community and foster the bonds of trust and reciprocity (community building function)

• to mobilize individual initiative in the pursuit of the common good (integrative function)

• to develop social and societal innovations

THE JOHNS HOPKINS COMPARATIVE NONPROFIT SECTOR PROJECT

- FROM THE EARLY 1990S ONWARDS

- ALTOGETHER MORE THAN 40 COUNTRIES PARTICIPATING,

REPRESENTING VARIOUS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STAGES AND CULTURAL AND POLITICAL TRADITIONS

LATEST SUMMARIZING REPORT, 2004:

Lester M. Salamon, S. Wojciech Sokolowski, and Associates:

GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY, DIMENSIONS OF THE NONPROFIT SECTOR, VOLUME TWO

Bloomfield: Kumarian Press, 2004

SOME MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE CROSS-NATIONAL STUDY (JOHNS HOPKINS PROJECT - 36 COUNTRIES)

• CIVIL SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT IS VERY SENSITIVE TO ECONOMICAL, POLITICAL AND CULTURAL CIRCUMSTANCES

ECONOMICAL, POLITICAL AND CULTURAL TRADITIONS OF SOCIETIES HAVE ESSENTIALLY INFLUENCED THE SIZE AND TYPE OF CIVIL SOCIETY FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY

GREAT VARIATION BETWEEN SOCIETIES AS FOR THE CHARACTER AND SIZE OF CIVIL SOCIETY

• A NUMBER OF TYPES OR CLUSTERS OF CIVIL SOCIETY CAN BE DISCERNED

DISTINCT TYPES OF CIVIL SOCIETY EVOLUTIONACCORDING TO THE JOHNS HOPKINS COMPARATIVE PROJECT

DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 1. THE ANGLO-SAXON CLUSTER

2. NORDIC WELFARE STATES3. EUROPEAN-STYLE WELFARE PARTNERSHIPS4. ASIAN INDUSTRIALIZED

DEVELOPING AND TRANSITIONAL COUNTRIES 5. LATIN AMERICA 6. AFRICA 7. CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE 8. OTHER DEVELOPING

1. The Anglo-Saxon cluster(Australia, U.K., U.S.A)

- LARGE CIVIL SOCIETY SECTOR IN THIS

TYPE

- BROAD PAID AND VOLUNTARY SECTOR IN CIVIL SOCIETY

- HEAVY FOCUS ON SERVICE FUNCTIONS OF CIVIL SOCIETY: SERVICE FUNCTIONS ARE LEFT FOR

PRIVATE CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS

STRONG PAID SECTOR IN CIVIL

SOCIETY

2. Nordic Welfare states(Finland, Norway, Sweden)

- RELATIVELY STRONG CIVIL SOCIETY SECTOR

- THE SERVICE FUNCTIONS OF CIVIL SOCIETY ARE RELATIVELY WEAK;

- STRONG ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS WITH HIGHLY PROFESSIONAL ACTORS

- VOLUNTEERING IS IMPORTANT PART

- EXPRESSIVE FUCTIONS WELL DEVELOPED: SPORTS, CULTURE, RECREATION

3. European-style welfare partnerhip(Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the

Netherlands, Spain)

- LARGE CIVIL SOCIETY SECTOR IN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

– LARGE PROPORTION OF PAID WORKERS

– STRONGLY FINANCED BY THE PUBLIC SECTOR

– STRONG SERVICE FUNCTIONS

PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE STATE AND ORGANIZED CIVIL SOCIETY SECTOR

GERMANY: “SUBSIDIARITY PRINCIPLE”: THE STATE

AUTHORITIES HAVE FIRST TO TURN TO THE FREE WELFARE ASSOCIATIONS TO SOLVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS

• THE NETHERLANDS: THE STATE SUPPORTS THE PILLARS OF PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS = “PILLARIZATION”

• FRANCE EARLIER FOLLOWED THE PATH OF THE NORDIC MODEL, BUT FROM THE 1980s ONWARDS:

DECENTRALIZATION SERVICE FUNCTIONS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, WHO TURNED TO LOCAL CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS FOR ASSISTANCE

4. The Asian Industrialized Model

(Japan, South Korea)

- HEAVILY SERVICE ORIENTED (HEALTH AND EDUCATION PARTICULARLY); these sectors are left for civil society organizations

- RELATIVE SMALL AND PASSIVE CIVIL SOCIETY (ALTHOUGH RECENTLY ACTIVATED)

5. The African Pattern(Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda)

IN SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA CIVIL SOCIETY IS RELATIVELY BROAD COMPARED TO OTHER DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

- STRONG VOLUNTEERING PART- SERVICE ORIENTATION- A LARGE COMPONENT WITHIN THE CIVIL SOCIETY

CONSISTS OF DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS :– EMPOWERMENT ORIENTED (MORE THAN

CHARITY ORIENTED)

6. The Central and Eastern European Model (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia)

- Most notable: quite small scale of civil society sector – only a quarter from the average size

• the smallest sector in international comparison

-The small civil society is expressive by its character

- Clearly, this is historical result from the socialist era

FUTURE• IN A SENSE DEVELOPMENT IS GOING TOWARDS A GLOBAL

CIVIL SOCIETY:

• ECONOMICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE GLOBALIZATION FORCE ALSO CIVIL SOCIETY TO ADJUST GLOBALIZATION

E.G. TO MAKE MORE EFFECTIVE INFLUENCE ON THE POLICIES OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS (WORLD BANK, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND, ETC.)

• COMMUNICATION CHANNELS (INTERNET) ENABLE EFFECTIVE LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER, SUPPORT FROM EACH OTHER AND MUTUAL EMPOWERMENT

NEW GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY INSTITUTUIONS EMERGE: E.G. WORLD SOCIAL FORUM

HOWEVER, DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COUNTRIES WILL LONG PRESERVE AS FOR SIZE AND TYPE OF CIVIL SOCIETY