Topic five

Civil Society

• The realm of voluntary associations, independent of the state and the market, that work toward some political/economic/social interest

• An analytical concept

• Exists at all ends of the political spectrum

  • Civil society at the right and the left, sometimes there is no ideological position

Functions of civil society

group/interest representation, provision of public goods, civil regulation

Provision of public good

When the state and the market doesn't provide it, civil society will provide it

Ex. Soup kitchen, kids help line

Global civil society

• When they take roles in social movements, protests, makes a sport team become a civil society

• Civil society is the major whistleblower from the government or the market system, it is civil society that whistle blows

• The state is supposed to hold the market and civil society to account, but also civil society is supposed to hold the market and the state to account

• Ex. Amnesty International, the MeToo movement

Two things civil societies do

1. Interest articulation; civil society groups are involved in civil aggregation, but before that they are involved in interest articulation

   • Some people just need social interest to be articulated for them

   • Ex. Someone calls you so you can articulate what is happening in the elections

   • Articulates the importance

2. Interest aggregation

   • Seemingly separete issues are tied together

   • Ex. I am against gun use, now you assume I am also against something else

Types of civil society actors

• Civil society organizations (CSOs)

  • Any civil society organization

• Voluntary community-based associations

  • Most standard

• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

  • Legal standard, formalized form of civil societies

  • Ex. Amnesty international, Green Peace, Mustard Seed

• Interest groups

• Labour unions

  • Key components of civil society

• Religious institutions and associations

• Academics/researchers

• The family

  • Questionable as a civil society

• Online actors

• Illegitimate actors

  • ISIS

A history of civil society

• Civil society emerged alongside the modern state and capitalism

• Concept first used in 18th century (Enlightenment/liberal thinking)

  • 19th century Alexis de Tocqueville emphasis on modern elements

• 1980s democratization movements and end of the Cold War

• 1990s response to neoliberalism

• 1990 Seattle

• 2011 Arab Spring

• Covid-19 online activity

1990s response to neoliberalism

• Anti-corporate globalization movement

• Covid-19 online activity

• Neoliberalism is about markets and minimize immigrants

• Removal of state-based provision so relying on the market

• Civil society here is just do it yourself

• Jobs relocating to Bangledesh because of the free-trade movement, this ruined our working class

1990 seattle

• Based around neoliberal practices

• Anti-corporate movement

• Labour unions had no say

• It was effective neoliberalism

Covid-19 online activity

• New forms of actions from civil society

• It's because we were constantly online and isolated

• There are major events that tend to tune us in and then we become a cognizant of political society

  • Covi happens, you become an understanding of politics, but you come from this standpoint and thus, it's extreme, this person has no knowledge of law and politics

Civil society: Issues and challenges

• Issue of representation

• Issue of accountability

  • The watchdog

  • Is the state doing a decent job policing civil society?

• Issue of coordination

• Challenge of funding and 'institutional capture'

  • Institutional capture is like ex. militant environmentalist that will fund you if you do research for our organization and advocate for them, the next day, you will change your attitude about climate because of the money

• Challenge of state repression

  • Co-optation

    • Change the discourse and co-opt you

    • Enter into it, and from the inside, you change the direction/action

Civil Society in liberal and non-liberal societies

• Liberal civil society is a necessary component of a liberal society

  • Central to democracy, human rights, social justice, etc.

• Faces constraints/control and/or cooptation in non-liberal societies

  • Tends to be the subject of coercion or cooptation

  • Cooptation resistance is when the state creates cooptation, but they actually have control over this

• Plays necessary roles in economically underdeveloped societies

  • When we see economic underdeveloped states, civil societies plays a necessary role

civil society’s characterisitics in liberal socieites

•  i) highly professionalized, ii) embedded within law, iii) operate independent of the state, iv) consistent funding sources

  • Civil societies tend to be highly professionalized

  • 80% to 85% NGOs are not from those countries, they are from economically advanced societies

  • They are legally recognized, highly professionalized, highly legalized

  • They are embedded in law

  • Clear legal personality in Canada and international law

  • In theory, civil societies act independently of states

  • Canada has grassroots and locked in and sufficient funding

  • One way that the private sector engaged in corporate civil responsibilities/initiatives is funding a NGO

illberal civil society

•  groups/interests within civil society that work toward illiberal goals

  • Gongo is a government organized NGO

  • This is where the state acts an organization independently of the state, but this is not true

  • Work with illiberal goals

Media

means of mass communication

I.e., print, broadcast, digital

Traditionality has acted as a 'watchdog' ('the fifth estate')

• Used widely within civil society and by the private sector

  • Revolutionized by new technologies (the internet)

• May advocate particular sociolegal/political

Media has traditionality acted as a ‘watchdog’ (the fifth estate")

• Traditionally media is supposed to be the fifth estate, supposed to hold the powerful to account

• Media doesn't particularly have an ideological bias, if you look at the history this is not true, if it means to take a liberal stance brings more clicks, more funds then they go that round. What matters is what gets them the money

Mainstreaming media

• large, wide-reaching media under corporate ownership and advertisers

  • Tends to dominate print, television and radio media

• Relies on private actors that fund them

• Ex. Aljazeera is funded by Qatar

• Mainstreaming media goes along the whims of global change

• Mainstream elements mitigate misinformation because they are held to higher account, but they can frame the perspective

Mitigating biases

We can triangulate our sources, meaning you can go to the most liberal, civil, and other ones so you can get a wider perspective to mitigate biases

News reporter in the media should be

Agonistic. Antagonistic should be when the news person is pressing hard questions to politicians, but when they are friendly with their questions then it is concerning

The new media

• The internet/social media has revolutionized the role of media in law/society/politics

• Opened new public spaces and opportunities for mobilization and information dissemination

• Transnationalized social movements

• Democratized the media

• Includes 'slacktivism' and 'hacktivism'

• Used as a mechanism of power and influence

• Has made it difficult to combat nefarious groups/activities

• People actually use this as an information source, but there is no mitigation here thus this is bad

Slacktivism

When someone changes there profile picture to black for black lives matters

Hacktivism

Is using hacking techniques to promote a political, social cause

Interest groups

associations formed to promote a particular interest in the political/legal system

interest group in general

• Activities include political endorsement, legal advocacy campaigns, petitioning and lobbying governments, interest articulation and interest aggregation

Lobbying

is if you support my cause, I will support you in the next election

Interest group systems

pluralism and corporatism

Pluralism

• is a problem because groups can openly compete, but in different capacities

  • Usually the most powerful money interest gets represented

  • Ex. Canada is a pluralist

Corporatism

• is a problem because groups can openly compete, but in different capacities

  • Usually the most powerful money interest gets represented

Contentious politics

Is a problem because groups can openly compete, but in different capacities

Usually the most powerful money interest gets represented

Civil society and contentious politics

• Occurs adjacently to formal law and politics

• Conducted (primarily) by civil society actors

  • Media plays a central role

Forms of contentious politics

1. Infra-politics: 'everyday forms of resistance'

2. Labour-related strikes

3. Social movements

4. Armed conflict

• Vary in terms of their performances and repertoires

• Vary according to messaging, level of organization, degree of mobilization, level if disruption, degree of violence, degree of legitimacy

Theories on civil society

1. Social contract theory

   • Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau

2. Liberal pluralism

3. Marxist perspective

   • Gramscian perspective

4. Rational choice theory

   • Collective action problems (i.e., free rider problem)

5. Political opportunity structure (Tarrow, McAdam, Meyer)