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Civil Society František Mikš

(The Centre for the Study of Democracy and Culture) The aim of this lecture is:

– to inform about the building of a civil society in the Czech Republic (the former Czechoslovakia) after the fall of the communist regime in 1989;

–to illustrate the necessary conditions for creating a functioning civil society network;

– to show how such a network has been indispensable for strengthening democracy in the post-communist countries.

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The point in the middle of the picture is a man,the small circle around him is his family and the big circle is the state.

And the man can be everything or nothing…it depends on the quality of the state, its political system and its political culture.

The most important thing is what lies in the area between the man (or his family)and the state.

In democratic societies the room is filled with thousands of independentand active organizations of civil society.

In non-democratic or totalitarian societies there is nothing,or only a few formal institutions dependent on the state.

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What is civil society?

• The term describes the broad space for free association by citizens, between the family on one side and the state on the other.

• It includes many active independent organizations through which citizens express their interests and reach their goals.

• Non-state organizations – are not part of the state• Non-profit organizations – their goal is not making profit

• NGOs – non-governmental organizations

• Another useful definition: civil society occupies the area between private interests and the state.

• It is the area outside the sphere of the market, state, and private life also caled non-profit sector, civic sector or third sector.

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Situation under communist regime

• Under communism, independent associations of citizens were officially banned; the free exchange of opinions through discussions, magazines, or books were prohibited.

• Social interest organizations were under strict supervision by the communists, they did not represent the wishes of citizens which were often not involved in them on a voluntary basis.

• On the contrary: by participating in some kind of official social organization citizens often expressed their loyalty to the communist system.

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Roots of civil society prior to 1989

• This situation led some active citizens into starting informal associations that were in opposition to the communist authorities and called for civic freedoms and human rights.

• The concept of a civil society was promoted as an alternative to a totalitarian society.

• In the late 1980s, the activity of these groups grew, and in the autumn of 1989, they also significantly contributed to the fall of the communist regime.

• In Czechoslovakia, the majority of these informal groups joined together to form the Civic Forum, an active anti-regime movement, where groups of various intellectual currents met.

• The protests organized by Civic Forum were joined by some three-quarters of the country’s adult population.

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Building of a civil society after 1989

• After the fall of communism in 1989 the previous anti-regime activists founded political parties or they remained in the non-state sector and developed civil society organizations.

• Civic groups that had existed under the communists, such as labor unions, sports clubs, and hobby interest groups, began to transform and emancipate themselves.

• Also the churches quickly began to develop their educational and social activities as part of a civil society.

• After 1989, Czechoslovakia experienced an enormous growth in the number of NGOs – 3,800 in 1990; 28,000 at the beginning of 1993 (after the breakup of the Czech and Slovak state), 75,000 in 2009.

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The Czech Republic has one of the most highly-developedcivil society structures of the post-communist countries

Few examples, data from 2009

• 47% of citizens have provided material or monetary gifts to some non-profit organizations

• the same percentage of citizens were members of non-profit organizations, and half of them were actually members of more than one

• almost 60% of citizens took part in some kind of social activity in their community: voluntary work, assistance to elderly, help in organizing cultural or sporting events

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Four important conditionsfor a successful civil society

1) A well-defined legal and regulatory framework;2) Transparency;3) Professionalization;4) Financial sustainability.

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1. Legal and regulatory framework

• Basic human rights must be guaranteed, especially the right to freely associate and organize in various civic initiatives independent on the state

• Foundation of civic associations must be according to the interests of the citizens, not the interests of the state.

• Registration procedure for civic organizations must be simple and quick.

• In the Czech Republic, a civic association can be formed by establishing a three-member group which draws up a brief set of statutes and sent them to the Interior Ministry for registration.

• The registration procedure takes a short amount of time, and in most cases is approved.

• Registrations may only be rejected if the association intends to limit the political and other rights of citizens because of their ethnicity, gender, race, or origin.

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2. The communication between state institutions

and civil society organizations must be transparent • Without a transparent set of rules an environment of corruption and

shady practices can exist even within the civil society itself.

• We can distinguish between two types of co-existence between the non-profit organizations and the state:

Competitive type of coexistence In relation to the state: professional, within the framework of existing

norms In relation to other non-profit organizations: competitive struggle over the

area of interests and financial resources

Clan-corporative type of coexistence In relation to the state: close ties with state organs and their officials,

often bordering on clientelism In relation to other non-profit organizations: cooperation on the basis of

personal relationships promoting the interests of a narrow group of people

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3. Professionalization – ability of the civil society organizations to make full and effective use of their capacity

• In the former post-communist countries, there was a complete lack of experience with managing this type of organization. It often had a negative impact in the preparation, management, and subsequent accounting of individual projects.

• As a result, some of the support programs financed from abroad turned their focus to strengthening the organizational capabilities of the local civic institutions.

• The support included: • The necessary infrastructure (offices, telephones, fax machines, internet

access, copy machines, etc.)

• The supply of indispensable know-how (seminars and training sessions)

• This support made civil society organizations gradually more prosessional and former amateurs and activists gradually became experienced managers.

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4. Financial sustainability

• Only with “multi-source” financing can a civil society institution be truly independent and able to survive the loss of an important sponsor.

• We distinguish five basic sources of funding for non-profit organizations:

• Individual contributions and gifts from private donors (individuals, firms, some larger organizations, membership fees)

• Fundraising through activities providing various types of services(admission tickets to events, revenues from publishing, payments for providing specialized services, for example research or expert analysis

• Acquiring funds from the resources of other organizations• (for example, organizing seminars and conferences with other state or

private or civil institutions that assume part of the costs)

• Receiving funds from specialized private and foreign foundations

• Obtaining funds from the stateIn the Czech Republic, these are mainly grants provided by the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the individual regions or larger cities.

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Basic classification of civil society organizations

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The differences between service and advocacy organizations

service organizations usually provide social and educational services (in the sphere of sports or as a part of the health care system)

• these are services not provided by the national or local government at all , or are not provided at a sufficient level

• for example shelters for women threatened by domestic violence, for mothers with children, libraries for the blind, etc.

The aims of advocacy organizations are:

• to defend the rights of specific groups• to influence politics and public opinion• to allow people to publicly advocate their interests and express their

needs • to contribute to the plurality of opinion in society

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Advocacy organizations promoting the social-economic interests of particular groups are for example:

• Labor unions• Gay and lesbian rights movement• Organizations working for the rights of ethnic

minorities• Women’s movement

Some associations in the women’s movement may serve as examples of civil society organizations with mixed service and mobilization functions.

They may be focused on providing services (for example, operating shelters), as well as on promoting political demands (for example, legislation on the protection of abused women, political representation for women, etc.).

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Advocacy organizations in the public interest

• These organizations do not advance the interest of a particular group of citizens, but call upon general principles and values.

They are for example:

• environmental organizations (ecological movement)

• organizations working for human rights and democracy, for transparency in politics, or against corruption

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Think tanks as a specific segment of a civil society

• The activities of the think tanks are very important for support and development of a democratic environment.

• The most common definition: “Institutions in the area between research and education, politics and business sector financially and institutionally independent of the state or interest groups”.

• They aim to educate citizens, formulate recommendations for politicians and to influence the formation of specific policies.

• A number of advocacy think tanks function in the Czech Republic, for example The Center for the Study of Democracy and Culture, which I am part of.

• These organizations have undergone the process of professionalization and gradually won respect both in academic circles and in the political community.