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Civil Society Lecture:Interest Groups, Pressure
Groups, Social Movements,
Pluralism & Polyarchy,
Corporatism, Civil Society
Definitions, Implications, Problems
and Questions
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Pressure Groups
Grew from the idea that democracy not so
much a matter of parliament, MPs or
Congressmen, but about managing
demands of competing groups
Permanent or ad hoc?
Insider or outsider?
Campaigners or defenders?
Single-issue or multi-issue?
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Interest groups
More permanent connotations: idea thatthere are lots of permanent groups thathave to defend their interests
Finer produced 10 categories: things likechurches, chambers of commerce, tradeunions
Distinguished from parties because didntrun for office or try to become government
Distinction more blurred now
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Social Movements
SMs are defined as a set of opinions and beliefs in apopulation which represents preferences for changingsome elements of the social structure and/or rewarddistribution of society (McCarthy and Zald, 1977)
SMs are broadly conceived: They differ from interestgroups and pressure groups which are specificorganisational phenomena
Interest groups and pressure groups can become part ofa SM (eg trade unions in the broader labour movement),as can political parties (eg the Labour Party in the Ban
the Bomb movement and CND in the 1980s) When referring to organisations within a SM they are
described as social movement organisations (SMOs).
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Pluralism or Polyarchy
Two of those 1960s political science terms
Simply mean that there are lots of centres
of power in a particular political system
Supposed to be the case that all
democracies are liberal and this is one of
the things that distinguishes them from
totalitarian regimes
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Problematic term
Has authoritarian & pluralist connotations:
A system of interest representation in which the constituent units areorganised into a limited number of singular, compulsory, non-competitive,hierarchically ordered and functionally differentiated categories, recognisedor licensed (if not created) by the state and granted a deliberaterepresentational monopoly within their respective categories in exchange forobserving certain controls in their selection of leaders and articulation ofdemands and supports.
(Schmitter in Rike & Strich (eds.), 1974: 93-94).
Mexico up to 2000 is a perfect example ofcorporatist state
Corporatism
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Classic Definitions
Revised Ideas
Current Uses of the term I
Current Uses II
Current Uses III
Current Uses IV
Problems with the term
Obstacles to Civil Society
Civil Society and Democratisation I: Latin America
Civil Society and Democratisation II: the Middle East
Conclusions
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CS is an arena of activity for the protection
of individual property rights from the state
(Two Treatises of Government) statist
conception without state, CS carries nomeaning
Hegel: 1- CS entails the protection of
individual rights & the needs of the rich inorder to secure freedom in eco/soc/cul
arenas; 2- CS describes eco/soc/cul
activity outside state control or coercion
Classic Definitions: John Locke &
Georg Willhelm Friedrich Hegel
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Classic Definitions: Karl Marx
&Thomas De Tocqueville
Marx: Bourgeois Civil Society: an economic definitionof CS
CS is independent of government, separates the
economic sphere from the personal and the politicalspheres, and has the bourgeoisie as its engine
De Tocqueville: CS Vs State
The need to defend CS from states tendency to smotherindividual and social freedoms
CS as the private sphere, independent of governmentintervention
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Reinterpretations of Civil Society:
Antonio Gramsci
Gramscis critique of Lenins universality
Differences between West and EastEurope required different tactics from
Western revolutionaries Existence of strong (bourgeois) civil
society in West meant revolutionaries
couldnt just seize the state. Need for intellectuals to win over
institutions of civil society
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Current Uses of the term I: E. Shils
and M. Walzer
E. Shils: CS is beyond the boundaries of thefamily and clan and beyond the locality[lying]
short of the state (1992).
M. Walzer: CS is the space of uncoercedhuman association & also the set of relational
networks - formed for the sake of family, faith,
interests & ideologythat fill this space (1995)
For both, CS incorporates trade unions, SMs,
cooperatives, neighbourhoods, societies etc.,
which promote particular interests
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Current Uses of the term II
* Challenging Authoritarian Regimes:
- Counterweight to state power (return to de
Tocqueville)
- Independent sphere of free expression
and association (Hegel)
- Place from which to develop new orcounterhegemonic political projects
(Gramsci)
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Current Uses of the term III
* Contribution to democracy
- CS as sphere of civility: a normativeinterpretation (Gramsci: role of
intellectuals)- CS as sphere of pluralism & participation:
an institutional interpretation (Gramsci:
structures of civil society)- CS as a check on state power (Locke,
Hegel, de Tocqueville)
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Current Uses of the term IV
* Becoming an International Actor
- NGOs and INGOsNGO-isation of
World Society (Meyer, 1997)
- World Economic Forum, WTO (?)
- Transnational Advocacy Networks
- International Social Movements: Seattle,Genoa, World Social Forum, Anti-
globalisation
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Problems With the Term
Fuzzy: Where are the boundaries?
Are multinationals part of an
internationalising civil society? Are they
part of governance structures? Should we
reserve civil society for progressive pro-
bono actors?
Idea of CS is rooted in western philosophy
and historical developmentOrientalism?
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Obstacles to Civil Society
State restrictions on freedoms, civilliberties etc.
Social and economic inequalities
Political culture, ideological & religiousbeliefs (can civil society co-exist withideological totalitarianism? Can it exist
within a religious state governed by atheocracy?)
Backlash: Iran 1979 (?)
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Transitions to Democracy I:
Latin America
Mexico:
Corporatist state: Central Party (PRI)
CNC (peasant cadre), CTM (workers cadre),
CNOP (middle classes, bourgeoisie, civilservants)
PRI
CNC CNOP CTM
Independent
Associations,
Movements, Societies,
independent Press etc
EXCLUDED!!!
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Transitions to Democracy I:
Latin America 1968: Massacre of Students as Tlatelolco coincides with
international attention of Olympic Games
Condemnation from World Society (reverse panopticon)
1970: New President Luis Echeverria Initiates sweeping socialreforms enabling free associations, free speech, free press etc.,
granting legitimacy to civil society organisations (CSOs) previouslyOUTSIDE the corporatist structure
Growth of independent social movements and independent CSOs
Still corruption at electoral level: PRI maintains grip on power
1982: Rise of Neoliberalism & closer ties with America andmultinationals = need for further transparency and liberalisation
1988: Neoliberal drive intensifies under President Salinas
1994: NAFTA
1994: Zapatista movement dramatises PRI totalitarianism forWorld Society
2000: Eventual defeat of PRI via free elections after over 70 yearsin power
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Transitions to Democracy II: Middle East
Civil society interpreted in specifically Western(Lockean, Hegelian) terms is unlikely to emerge in
the Middle East, but this should not exclude the
development of other kinds of inclusive solidarity
communities
(M. Hudson, 1988: 168)
[In] a secular, liberal state that subscribes to theprinciples of religious toleration, historical
religions...are part of civil society
(T. Asad, 1992: 9)
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[There is] confusion in the Arab public
mind, at least about the meaning of
democracy. The confusion is, however,
understandable since the idea ofdemocracy is quite alien to the mind-set of
Islam
(E. Kedourie, 1992: 1)
Transitions to Democracy II: Middle East
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Summary
What have we looked at?
- Classic Definitions (Hegel, Locke, Tocqueville, Marx etc.)
- Revised Ideas (Neo-Marxist ideas of CS as revolutionary)
- Current Uses of the term I (Walzer, Shils)
- Current Uses II (Challenge to authoritarian regimes)
- Current Uses III (Contribution to Democracy)
- Current Uses IV (Internationalisation of CS)
- Problems with the term (Orientalist? Ambiguous?)
- Obstacles to Civil Society (Civil Liberties, Cultural Beliefs)
- Civil Society and Democratisation I: Latin America
- Civil Society and Democratisation II: the Middle East