Discuss the roles and function s of civil society in a democracy
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this section discusses the role of civil society in a democracy. It looks at the various services civil society can provide to the government. It also looks at the other functions it may provides in keeping government accountable and transparent. It introduces the importance of public information in a democratic society and the important role of public associations as a communications link between citizens and elected officials.
1.1. The Importance of Civil Society in a Democracy
The strength and pluralism of civil society, and its ability to unite in a broad front, has been a crucial factor for shaping democratic change, according to Larry Diamond, Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Additionally, he states that «civil society performs many other crucial functions for democratic development and consolidation.» These functions include:
limiting the power of the state more generally, including challenging the abuses of authority;
monitoring human rights and strengthening the rule of law;
monitoring elections and enhancing the overall quality and credibility of the democratic process;
educating citizens about their rights and responsibilities;
building a culture of tolerance and civic involvement;
incorporating marginal groups into the political process and enhancing the latter's responsiveness to societal interest and need;
providing alternative means, outside the state, for communities to raise their level of material development;
opening and pluralizing the flows of information; and
building a constituency for economic as well as political reforms.*
Diamond also explains that «where civil society organizations build up credibility and trust among various political actors, they may be able to stabilize, even save, democracy in time of crisis.» He describes a situation in the Central African Republic, for example, where an NGO, the Central African League for Human Rights (LCDH), played a crucial mediating role during two Army uprisings in 1996.
During the first Army mutiny ... LCDH officials played the chief mediating role between the military mutineers and the government «drafting protocols (to provide soldiers their back pay) and ultimately persuading soldiers to lay down their arms.» A second, more serious, uprising ... took the form of a military coup attempt, and threatened not only democracy but even civil war with its ethnic overtones, internal military divisions, distribution of arms, demands for the resignation of the president and looting and terrorizing of the civilian population. Although this uprising was ultimately put down by French military intervention, its political resolution, which saw the society rally behind democracy, was catalyzed by the LCDH's declared support for the regime and its mediation of negotiations between the regime and the military rebels ...
The ability of the LCDH to perform this democracy-saving role owed to the «consistent neutrality and objectivity» and widespread image of «moral credibility» it had established during the country's previous five years of democratic struggle.*
Countries experience different challenges during democratic transitions. In nearly all cases, civil society organizations may do much to keep the quest for democracy alive, raise the consciousness of society and even contain the abuses of the regime (in part by exposing and documenting them.) In the face of continual pressure, intimidation - even arrest and physical danger - human rights groups and other civic organization have courageously pressed on with the struggle for democracy.
1.1. The Importance of Civil Society in a Democracy
The strength and pluralism of civil society, and its ability to unite in a broad front, has been a crucial factor for shaping democratic change, according to Larry Diamond, Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Additionally, he states that «civil society performs many other crucial functions for democratic development and consolidation.» These functions include:
limiting the power of the state more generally, including challenging the abuses of authority;
monitoring human rights and strengthening the rule of law;
monitoring elections and enhancing the overall quality and credibility of the democratic process;
educating citizens about their rights and responsibilities;
building a culture of tolerance and civic involvement;
incorporating marginal groups into the political process and enhancing the latter's responsiveness to societal interest and need;
providing alternative means, outside the state, for communities to raise their level of material development;
opening and pluralizing the flows of information; and
building a constituency for economic as well as political reforms.*
Diamond also explains that «where civil society organizations build up credibility and trust among various political actors, they may be able to stabilize, even save, democracy in time of crisis.» He describes a situation in the Central African Republic, for example, where an NGO, the Central African League for Human Rights (LCDH), played a crucial mediating role during two Army uprisings in 1996.
During the first Army mutiny ... LCDH officials played the chief mediating role between the military mutineers and the government «drafting protocols (to provide soldiers their back pay) and ultimately persuading soldiers to lay down their arms.» A second, more serious, uprising ... took the form of a military coup attempt, and threatened not only democracy but even civil war with its ethnic overtones, internal military divisions, distribution of arms, demands for the resignation of the president and looting and terrorizing of the civilian population. Although this uprising was ultimately put down by French military intervention, its political resolution, which saw the society rally behind democracy, was catalyzed by the LCDH's declared support for the regime and its mediation of negotiations between the regime and the military rebels ...
The ability of the LCDH to perform this democracy-saving role owed to the «consistent neutrality and objectivity» and widespread image of «moral credibility» it had established during the country's previous five years of democratic struggle.*
Countries experience different challenges during democratic transitions. In nearly all cases, civil society organizations may do much to keep the quest for democracy alive, raise the consciousness of society and even contain the abuses of the regime (in part by exposing and documenting them.) In the face of continual pressure, intimidation - even arrest and physical danger - human rights groups and other civic organization have courageously pressed on with the struggle for democracy.
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