Samenvatting GSC
Preface book
- Not very important > in a nutshell the preface covers the fact that the Global Civil Society is
deteriorating due to factors such as cultural and political polarisation, social media etc. It is
up to us, the ordinary citizens, (not the elite or the dominant donors) to change this for the
better and to make sure GCS can reach its full potential again.
Chapter 1 book
Civil Society: The Civil Society consist of all organisations, action groups, individual initiatives
and collective action in search for a good society. Basically every action in favor of the
society, mostly coming forward out of affiliation with the subject, is part of the civil society.
o However, a strong civil society is no guarantee for a civil and strong society.
o Civil Society knows a lot of different definitions: some argue cs is a third sector next
to state and market, others argue these three overlap leaving the boundaries fuzzy >
all the different definitions will be used in order to maintain the quality of the
debate.
Public sphere: the public sphere is said to be the step inbetween collective action and public
good. The public sphere is the political and social life that underpins the great questions of
the day.
- Three distict schools in the Civil Society literature:
o Civil Society as a part of society (neo-Tocquevillian school focussed on the
associational life)
o Civil Society as a kind of society (characterized by positive norms and values as well
as succes in meeting particular goals)
o Civil Society as a Public Sphere
- The rise of civil society:
o There are three ways to solve collective problems: through rules and laws, through
unintendent consequences of individual decisions in the marketplace, or through
social mechanisms embedded in voluntary action, discussion and agreement.
o The best way to overcome collective problems is if all the three fields are used
together
o Civil society came in, among other things, as a response to market and state failures.
- Goals of civil society:
o Curbing the power of the state
o Pluralism > making sure everyones voice is heard
o Nurturing constructive social norms
- Roles of civil society:
o There are three different types of roles:
Economic: nurturing social networks, filling the gap between the market and
the state (foodbanks), to a certain extend compensate the flaws of the
market.
Social: civil societies are a reservoir of cultural life, and teaching people life
and social skills. It also contributes to social cohesion.
, Political: focussing on pluralism but also the promotion of transparency,
accoutability and other good governance practices.
- Tendencies:
o Polarization, digitalization, bureaucratization.
Chapter 2 book (Civil Society as associational life)
- From a historic point of view it became clear over time that people’s natural tendency is to
be associated with each other and be part of a collective society.
- It was seen that associations and the associate life was able to solve a lot of collective
problems the state or the market were not able to solve > note however that it cannot be
expected that every unsolvable problem can be solved by civil associations.
- To look at Civil Society as a part of society means cs is a distinct sector next to the ‘state’ and
‘market’ > is often described as the public or non-profit sector. > This idea has occurred from
de Tocqueville.
- Associational revolution:
o From the 1980’s a significant growth can be seen in the amount of NGO’s. This is an
unambiuous fact, but what this means for civil society and society in general is not
that clear.
It is for example not crystal clear which NGO’s do belong in the Civil Society,
and which don’t.
- Who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out’:
o Civil Society is a distinct sector next to state and market. It is however unrealistic to
think that these three sectors operate completely independent from eachother. The
lines where one sector ends and the other begins are vague.
For example: the state makes the legal framework for association to operate
in. But these associations also pressure the government on taking certain
actions (they can serve as watchdog).
o Civil society and state:
There is a much debated grey area between state and civil society called ‘politcal
society’. This is the area that consists out of polical parties, political pression groups.
Some believe these parties are part of the civil society since they are
advocates for certain political beliefs (a lot of shifting back and forth is done
between the NGO and national politics). They are voluntary associations
which naturally bleed into the public sphere.
Others belief voluntary associations should be completely independent of
politics and should not be meddling or working together with official political
groups and parties. They think the association who exist for the common
good can get way too corrupted when involved with politics (it can get
internally divided for example).
There has always been a strong strain of antipolitics among civil society
enthusiasts. It is almost never succesfull for an civil association to enroll in
eletoral politics.
The state is ‘out’ of civil society, and non-partisan political activity is ‘in’.
Political parties are in civil society when they are out of office, and out civil
society when they are in office.
, o Civil society and market:
There are again two sides when the question is raised whether civil society and
market are interconnected.
Some say that the influence of the market bleeds into every other sphere,
the civil one included. They argue that some enterprises can protect civil
goals from state control. They also argue that some businesses (the kind is
rather important) can, besides their own goals, still contribute to civic goals.
Others feel that the civil society is a ‘market-free zone’ and that ‘only a
concept of civil society differentiated from the economy…can become the
centre of a critical social and political theory’.
o Whether something is ‘in’ or ‘out’ civil society is dependent on the terms ‘civil’ and
‘uncivil’.
- Organizations and ecosystems:
o Edwards uses the metaphor of an ecosystem to evaluate the resilience, strength and
functioning of civil society organizations.
o Civil society is often seen as the nonprofit sector > but it also consists of smaller,
under the surface, citizen action. Therefore it is better to see civil society as an
‘ecosystem’ in which every type of association and group is interconnected.
o For civil society to reach its full potential all the different civil society actors need to
be interconnected by bonding (connection within the organizations), linking (linking
between the three sectors) and bridging (connection between the organizations).
This can result into social movements with great effects.
Social movements have three aspects in common: they have a very clear
and strong idea; effective communication strategies to reach politics and the
media; they have a strong social base.
o The associational ecosystem is alsways evolving, but not necessarily in the same way
from one society to another.
- The way in which civil society is organized outside of the western world can greatly differ,
even between countries in the same region.
- Key criteria for ‘voluntary’ association:
o Membership is optional and not forced > you can both enter and exit it.
This is not always the case though (certain churches or faith related
oranizations, sometime it’s a package deal > you need to be part to get
certain benefits)
o There are mechanisms used like negotiating, bargaining, open and free debate
Article Goodin (all affected interest)
- What is the article about: The article is about the question who gets the ability to make
democratic choices. In other words, who are the people who make up the collective that
makes democratic decisions for the society they live in?
o This question is called ‘constituting the demos’
o There seem to be some answers to this question like; the demos ought to constist
out of people who are not rejected by any of the others as a member > this however
leaves a lot of people excluded. Or the demos constists out of people who are legally
Preface book
- Not very important > in a nutshell the preface covers the fact that the Global Civil Society is
deteriorating due to factors such as cultural and political polarisation, social media etc. It is
up to us, the ordinary citizens, (not the elite or the dominant donors) to change this for the
better and to make sure GCS can reach its full potential again.
Chapter 1 book
Civil Society: The Civil Society consist of all organisations, action groups, individual initiatives
and collective action in search for a good society. Basically every action in favor of the
society, mostly coming forward out of affiliation with the subject, is part of the civil society.
o However, a strong civil society is no guarantee for a civil and strong society.
o Civil Society knows a lot of different definitions: some argue cs is a third sector next
to state and market, others argue these three overlap leaving the boundaries fuzzy >
all the different definitions will be used in order to maintain the quality of the
debate.
Public sphere: the public sphere is said to be the step inbetween collective action and public
good. The public sphere is the political and social life that underpins the great questions of
the day.
- Three distict schools in the Civil Society literature:
o Civil Society as a part of society (neo-Tocquevillian school focussed on the
associational life)
o Civil Society as a kind of society (characterized by positive norms and values as well
as succes in meeting particular goals)
o Civil Society as a Public Sphere
- The rise of civil society:
o There are three ways to solve collective problems: through rules and laws, through
unintendent consequences of individual decisions in the marketplace, or through
social mechanisms embedded in voluntary action, discussion and agreement.
o The best way to overcome collective problems is if all the three fields are used
together
o Civil society came in, among other things, as a response to market and state failures.
- Goals of civil society:
o Curbing the power of the state
o Pluralism > making sure everyones voice is heard
o Nurturing constructive social norms
- Roles of civil society:
o There are three different types of roles:
Economic: nurturing social networks, filling the gap between the market and
the state (foodbanks), to a certain extend compensate the flaws of the
market.
Social: civil societies are a reservoir of cultural life, and teaching people life
and social skills. It also contributes to social cohesion.
, Political: focussing on pluralism but also the promotion of transparency,
accoutability and other good governance practices.
- Tendencies:
o Polarization, digitalization, bureaucratization.
Chapter 2 book (Civil Society as associational life)
- From a historic point of view it became clear over time that people’s natural tendency is to
be associated with each other and be part of a collective society.
- It was seen that associations and the associate life was able to solve a lot of collective
problems the state or the market were not able to solve > note however that it cannot be
expected that every unsolvable problem can be solved by civil associations.
- To look at Civil Society as a part of society means cs is a distinct sector next to the ‘state’ and
‘market’ > is often described as the public or non-profit sector. > This idea has occurred from
de Tocqueville.
- Associational revolution:
o From the 1980’s a significant growth can be seen in the amount of NGO’s. This is an
unambiuous fact, but what this means for civil society and society in general is not
that clear.
It is for example not crystal clear which NGO’s do belong in the Civil Society,
and which don’t.
- Who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out’:
o Civil Society is a distinct sector next to state and market. It is however unrealistic to
think that these three sectors operate completely independent from eachother. The
lines where one sector ends and the other begins are vague.
For example: the state makes the legal framework for association to operate
in. But these associations also pressure the government on taking certain
actions (they can serve as watchdog).
o Civil society and state:
There is a much debated grey area between state and civil society called ‘politcal
society’. This is the area that consists out of polical parties, political pression groups.
Some believe these parties are part of the civil society since they are
advocates for certain political beliefs (a lot of shifting back and forth is done
between the NGO and national politics). They are voluntary associations
which naturally bleed into the public sphere.
Others belief voluntary associations should be completely independent of
politics and should not be meddling or working together with official political
groups and parties. They think the association who exist for the common
good can get way too corrupted when involved with politics (it can get
internally divided for example).
There has always been a strong strain of antipolitics among civil society
enthusiasts. It is almost never succesfull for an civil association to enroll in
eletoral politics.
The state is ‘out’ of civil society, and non-partisan political activity is ‘in’.
Political parties are in civil society when they are out of office, and out civil
society when they are in office.
, o Civil society and market:
There are again two sides when the question is raised whether civil society and
market are interconnected.
Some say that the influence of the market bleeds into every other sphere,
the civil one included. They argue that some enterprises can protect civil
goals from state control. They also argue that some businesses (the kind is
rather important) can, besides their own goals, still contribute to civic goals.
Others feel that the civil society is a ‘market-free zone’ and that ‘only a
concept of civil society differentiated from the economy…can become the
centre of a critical social and political theory’.
o Whether something is ‘in’ or ‘out’ civil society is dependent on the terms ‘civil’ and
‘uncivil’.
- Organizations and ecosystems:
o Edwards uses the metaphor of an ecosystem to evaluate the resilience, strength and
functioning of civil society organizations.
o Civil society is often seen as the nonprofit sector > but it also consists of smaller,
under the surface, citizen action. Therefore it is better to see civil society as an
‘ecosystem’ in which every type of association and group is interconnected.
o For civil society to reach its full potential all the different civil society actors need to
be interconnected by bonding (connection within the organizations), linking (linking
between the three sectors) and bridging (connection between the organizations).
This can result into social movements with great effects.
Social movements have three aspects in common: they have a very clear
and strong idea; effective communication strategies to reach politics and the
media; they have a strong social base.
o The associational ecosystem is alsways evolving, but not necessarily in the same way
from one society to another.
- The way in which civil society is organized outside of the western world can greatly differ,
even between countries in the same region.
- Key criteria for ‘voluntary’ association:
o Membership is optional and not forced > you can both enter and exit it.
This is not always the case though (certain churches or faith related
oranizations, sometime it’s a package deal > you need to be part to get
certain benefits)
o There are mechanisms used like negotiating, bargaining, open and free debate
Article Goodin (all affected interest)
- What is the article about: The article is about the question who gets the ability to make
democratic choices. In other words, who are the people who make up the collective that
makes democratic decisions for the society they live in?
o This question is called ‘constituting the demos’
o There seem to be some answers to this question like; the demos ought to constist
out of people who are not rejected by any of the others as a member > this however
leaves a lot of people excluded. Or the demos constists out of people who are legally
