BLOCK 5

CONCEPT AND ROLE OF CIVIL

SOCIETY
Commissions

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 Administrative Reforms
UNIT 11 CONCEPT AND ROLE OF CIVIL Commission

SOCIETY

Structure
11.0 Objectives
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Concept of Civil Society
11.3 Civil Society in India
11.4 Role of Civil Society
11.5 Issues Facing Civil Society
11.6 CSOs: A Way Forward
11.7 References and Further Readings

11.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you should be able to:
discuss the concept of civil society,
examine the role of civil society in India, and
highlight the various issues affecting their effective functioning and
suggestions to lessen them.

11.1 INTRODUCTION
The term ‘civil society’ can be traced back to the works of classical Greek and
Roman philosophers like Aristotle and Cicero. As a matter of fact, Aristotle is
credited with the very first usage of the term. The term, which at that period of
time was taken, as synonymous to political institution, has developed a completely
opposite meaning in today’s discourse and is referred to, as an autonomous body,
distinct from the state.

The modern idea of civil society saw its genesis in the Scottish and Continental
enlightenment era of the late eighteenth century. An idea of civil society being
parallel but distinct from the state was developed by the political theorists’ right
from Thomas Paine 1to George Hegel2. According to them, civil society was a
domain, where association of citizens takes place in accordance with their
interests, desires, and wishes. Reflections of this changed school of thought
could be seen in the changed economic realities like rise of bourgeois, private
properties, and market competition.

1
Thomas Paine1 was an English American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and
writer whose writings influenced the American Revolution and helped pave the way for the
Declaration of Independence.
2
Hegelianism is the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel, which can be summed up by the dictum that
the ‘rational alone is real.’ This means that all reality is capable of being expressed in rational
categories.

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Commissions But in the middle of the 19th century, the term was deserted because the attention
of the political philosophers turned to the social and political repercussions of
the industrial revolution. But, the term revived during the Second World War,
when the Marxist theorists Antonio Gramsci3 resuscitated the idea of civil society
in order to represent civil society, as an exclusive centre of independent political
activity against tyranny. Gramsci ideas were a source of influence for the persons
fighting against dictatorship in central Europe and Latin America in 1970’s and
1980’s. Even “Czech, Hungarian, and Polish activists wrapped themselves in
the banner of civil society, endowing it with the heroic quality, when the Berlin
Wall fell” (Carothers, 1999).

It was in 1990’s that the phrase ‘civil society’ became the buzzword in the global
arena with every one right from political scientists to an average citizen using it,
as a ‘mantra’ (key) and became a significant constituent of the ‘post-cold-war-
zeitgeist.4’ Elena Triffonova has mentioned post-cold-war-zeitgeist in that all
the European countries worked towards reconstructing civil society. Since 1990s,
NGOs have emerged, as an important force working to democratize the decision
making process, protect human rights, and provide essential services to the most
needy. The civil society is conceived, as an essential condition of democracy.

11.2 CONCEPT OF CIVIL SOCIETY

Civil society is generally defined, as the space, which is outside the realm of
family, market, and state. There is no single definition of civil society. It means
differently to different authors.

As per Sussane Hober Rudolph5 “civil society… includes the idea of a non-state
autonomous sphere; empowerment of citizens; trust building associational life;
interaction with, rather than subordination to the State”. Dipankar Gupta6 defines
civil society, as “not a thing but a set of conditions within, which individuals
interact collectively with the state.”
To Larry Diamond7, it is the “realm of organized social life that is open, voluntary,
self-generating, (largely) self-supporting, and autonomous from the state, bound
3
Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist philosopher and communist politician. He wrote on
political theory, sociology and linguistics. He broke away from the economic determinism of
traditional Marxist thought and so is considered a key neo-Marxist.
4
Post-cold-war-zeitgeist in, which zeitgeist is a concept from 18th to 19th century in German
philosophy, meaning ‘spirit of age.’ It refers to an invisible agent or force dominating the
characteristics of a given epoch in world history. In contemporary world, it prescribes what is
considered to be acceptable for an era.
5
Sussane Hober Rudolph was an American author, political thinker, and educationist. She was
actively interested in politics, political economy, and political sociology of South Asia. Her
writings were compiled by OUP in 2008 into a three volume publication under the name,
‘Explaining Indian Democracy: A Fifty-Year Perspective.’
6
Dipankar Gupta is an Indian sociologist and public intellectual. He was formerly Professor in
the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, JNU, New Delhi. He has written a number of
books such as ‘Mistaken Modernity, 2009;’ ‘The Caged Phoenix: Can India Fly? 2009;’
‘Revolution from Above’ 2013, Political Sociology in India: Contemporary Trends, 1996, and
many more.
7
Larry Diamond is an American political sociologist and leading contemporary scholar in the
field of democracy studies. He is a professor of sociology at Stanford University and teaches
courses on democratic development and supervises democracy programs at the Centre of
Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law. He has published extensively in the fields of
140 foreign policy, foreign aid, and democracy.
by a legal order or a set of shared rules. It is distinct from the ‘society’ in general Concept and Role of Civil
Society
in that it involves citizens acting collectively in a public sphere to express their
interests, passions, and ideas; exchange information, achieve mutual goals, make
demands on the state, and hold the state officials accountable. Civil society is an
intermediary entity standing between the private sphere and the state. Civil society
is concerned with public rather than private ends…civil society relate to the
state in some way but do not aim to win formal power.”
According to Jeffery Alexander8"civil society is an inclusive, umbrella-like
concept referring to plethora of institutes outside the state.”

Niraja Gopal Jayal envisions civil society to cover “all forms of voluntary
associations and social interactions not controlled by the state.”

To Michael Bratton 9civil society is a “social interaction between the household

and the state characterized by community cooperation, structures of voluntary
association, and networks of public communication.”

The World Bank has adopted a definition of civil society that was developed by
a number of leading research centers, “the term civil society refers to a wide
array of non-governmental and not-for-profit organizations that have a presence
in public life, expressing the interests and values of their members or others,
based on ethical, cultural, political, scientific, religious, or philanthropic
considerations. Civil society organizations (CSOs) therefore refer to a wide of
array of organizations: community groups, non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), labor unions, indigenous groups, charitable organizations, faith-based
organizations, professional associations, and foundations.”

The European Union (EU) considers CSOs to include “all non-State, not-for
profit, non-partisan, and non–violent structures through, which people organize
to pursue shared objectives and ideals, whether political, cultural, social or
economic …. These CSOs are membership based, cause-based, and service-
oriented. Among them are the community-based organizations, NGOs, faith-
based organizations, foundations, research institutions, gender based
organizations, LGBT organizations, cooperatives, professional and business
associations, media, and non-for-profit organizations. Trade unions and
employers’ organizations, the so-called social partners, constitute a specific
category of CSOs.”

A civil society ecosystem usually includes within its ambit10:

1) NGOs, non-profit organizations, and community based organizations that
have an organized structure or activity and are typically registered entities
and groups.
2) Online groups like social media communities with activities that can be
organized, but may not necessarily have physical, legal, or financial
structures.
8
Jeffery Alexander is an American sociologist and one of the world’s leading social theorists.
9
Michael Bratton is University distinguished professor of Political Science and African studies
at Michigan State University. He has been an author of books mostly with ‘Voting and
Democratic Citizenship in Africa,’ 2013; A Power Politics in Zimbabwe, 2014; and articles in
The American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, and other journals.
10
World Economic Forum, 2013, The Future Role of Civil Society-Weforum, Switzerland 141
Concept and Role of Civil 3) Social movements of collective action, which can be online or physical.
Society
4) Religious leaders, faith communities, and faith-based organizations.
5) Labor unions and labor organizations representing workers.
6) Social entrepreneurs employing innovative approaches for positive social
and environmental outcomes.
7) Grassroots associations and activities at the local level.
8) Cooperatives owned and democratically controlled by the members.

From the above we can deduce the following characteristics of a civil society:
1) It consists of non-state institutions.
2) It consists of a plethora of organizations and institutions outside family,
state, and market.
3) It is an organized society.
4) It is voluntary.
5) It is autonomous body.
6) It is a nonprofit entity.
7) It enables citizen’s interaction with the state, thus, facilitating citizen
participation in the governance process.

11.3 CIVIL SOCIETY IN INDIA

India has a long tradition of civil society activities and movements going on
since centuries. The roots of civil society in India can be traced to the Vedic
times. Various religions in India like Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism, and
Jainism-all stress on behavior that is ultimately beneficial to society and mankind.
The concept of ‘giving’ for others is very much embedded in our religions. We
have ‘Daan’ in Hinduism, ‘Dasvand’ in Sikhism, and ‘Zakat’ in Islam connoting
benevolent giving. In medieval period also, voluntary organizations were actively
involved in welfare activities pertaining to education and health.

In the 19th century, the popular mobilization vis-à-vis CSOs took place, which
saw the emergence of various social groups like ‘Brahmo Samaj,’ ‘Arya Samaj,’
‘Theosophical Society,’ ‘Ramakrishna Mission,’ which were behind different
reform movements in India. Active participation of various NGOs and voluntary
organizations was witnessed during India’s struggle for freedom. Voluntary sector
gained momentum under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. He mobilized masses
and created a space for civil society, which successfully carried out the movements
like Satyagraha (truth and non-violence), non-cooperation, and civil disobedience.
His school of thought continued to inspire people even after independence,
reminiscences that can be seen in movements like Chipko movements led by
Sunder Lal Bahuguna or more recently anti-corruption protests by Anna Hazare,
social audit movement by the rural workers and such others.

After independence, the union government set up Central Social Welfare Board,
and began the Community Development Programme, and National Extension
142 Service. These efforts were basically to involve and increase people participation
in the social welfare developmental programmes. After establishment of Concept and Role of Civil
Society
Panchayati Raj Institutions in India in 1958, various farmers and their co-operative
societies came up in good numbers and gave fillip to networking in the civil
society organizations. The incidences of droughts, famines, and engagement in
wars in the sixties gave further boost to voluntary action in the country. In 1970’s
and 1980’s, the number of CSOs, especially, NGO’s grew in the areas of poverty
alleviation, development and growth, access to education, empowerment of poor,
protection of civil liberties etc. and were recognized, as crucial partners in
development of the state.

With LPG in the nineties, the role of the NGOs increased. As international
organizations like World Bank and IMF giving aids to developing nations showed
their inclination to work with non-state actors, the number and significance of
NGOs increased. The dawn of 21st century saw civil society in India undertaking
a major initiative to the enactment of Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005.

According to Dr. Ramesh Sharan, CSOs in India can be classified under following
types:
1) Voluntary groups influenced by Gandhian thought.
2) Professional rural development agencies
3) Civil and political rights groups
4) Missionary organizations
5) Students, workers, and women movements associated with political parties
6) Independent social movements of dalits, adivasis, women, and
environmentalists.
7) Movements of minority groups (Muslim, Christian, Buddhist)
8) Religious movements including both spiritual and fundamentalist.

11.4 ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY

For democratic state to function well, presence of strong civil society is a must.
Let us now discuss the role of civil society in detail:

1) Policy Advocacy
CSOs are engaged in policy dialogues with government in areas of poverty
alleviation and empowerment of the disadvantaged sections. These
organizations help the government in not only framing the policies in these
areas but also help policy execution and policy monitoring and review. ‘Save
the Children India’ is a NGO that works towards the restoration of the rights
of children.

2) Protection Role
Association for Protection of Democratic Rights helps provide legal aid to
those who have no access to courts of law. Usually such types of CSOs
enable legal services and protect the citizens against the repressive attitudes.

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Concept and Role of Civil 3) Promotion of Transparency
Society
The CSOs have enabled the enactment of RTI Act, 2005 and Lokpal and
Lokayukta Act, 2013.

4) Mobilization of the Citizens and Resources

These organizations involve communities in development works by engaging
them in planning and designing the same. This even helps the government
to back track some of its policies that are not people friendly. They have
used community resources to undertake initiatives like building community
infrastructure, houses, toilets, and in providing basic services like water,
electricity etc.
5) As an Active Partners in development
NGOs like ‘Asha,’ ‘Pratham’ are actively involved in providing education
to the children in rural areas and slums in the country. NGO like ‘Rural
Health Care Foundation’ is providing health care services to the people in
rural and remote areas.

11.5 ISSUES FACING CIVIL SOCIETY

The main issues faced by CSOs in their working are discussed, as follows:
1) Civil society organizations lack adequate financial resources
Most of the CSOs don’t have adequate funds to carry out their work, as the
people they serve lack the capacity to pay. Hence, they depend on receiving
funds from the government/non-government bodies/international
institutions. Now, with a simultaneous cut in the international funding, the
problem of financial inadequacy of CSO’s is only increasing.

2) Inadequate professional and trained staff

There exists a huge shortage of professional and trained personnel in the
voluntary sector. Most of the personnel are unqualified and unskilled.
Inadequate salaries do act, as a deterrent in appointing of a skilled work
force. Also, professionally qualified and trained individuals have a preference
and inclination to work in high profile cities and offices than a backward
and underdeveloped region.

3) Accountability Issues
One of the issues plaguing CSOs is the accountability issue in their own
operation and working. Accountability and transparency, especially, in
financial matters are found lacking. There have been increasing incidences
of misuse of funds by these organizations. In January 2017, the Hon.
Supreme Court of India called for an audit of nearly 30 lakh NGOs. This
move was taken in the background of the NGOs failing to give an account
of expenditure made out of the moneys they had received.11
4) Government-Civil Society Interface
The partnership of CSOs with the government has helped in successful
implementation of many welfare and developmental programmes. CSOs
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11
htt://www.thehindu.com/todaypaper/SC-orders-audit-of-30-lakh-NGO/artical1702095ece
 have also successfully engaged with government in formulating various Concept and Role of Civil
Society
national level policies. But this interface between the CSOs and government
seem to be clouded with an overbearing attitude of governmental officials,
bureaucratization, and inertia that has led to a gap in the interface between
the two.

11.6 CSOS: A WAY FORWARD

Civil society is a vast and diverse group encompassing various organizations
within it. It plays significant role in representing the interests of depressed and
oppressed classes, mobilization of resources, policy advocacy, and regulating
and monitoring state action. It has become one of the key instruments of good
governance worldwide. With involvement of stakeholders, there is always a space
for inclusiveness. Prof. John Keane (founder of the Centre for the Study of
Democracy in London), a British theorist stated the emerging consensus that
civil society is a realm of freedom correctly highlights its basic value, as a
condition of democracy. Where there is no civil society there cannot be citizens
with capacities. It enables the citizens in choosing their identities, entitlements,
and duties within a political-legal framework (paraphrased).

The CSOs have been facing issues like inadequate finances, untrained and
unskilled staff, lack of accountability, and strife with the government that
ultimately leads to a very peripheral achievement of laid down goals. Having a
platform for discourse and dialogue between the CSOs and government, skill
development and capacity building through various programmes, and also by
having a provision of social and performance audit of the Organisations can
resolve such issues.

Activity
You can present a case study on a specific CSO.

11.7 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READINGS

Asian Development Bank, Overview of Civil Society Organizations: India,
retrieved from https://www.adb.org/publications/overview-civil-society-
organizations-india, November 1, 2017
AUGUR, Challenges for Europe in the World in 2030, retrieved from
www.augurproject.eu/IMG/pdf/cso_note_provisional_draft5_june_2012.pdf,
November 1, 2017
Bhattacharya, Mohit, 2011, New Horizon of Public Administration, Jawahar
Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi
Boris DeWiel, A Conceptual History of Civil Society: From Greek Beginnings
to the End of Marx, Past Imperfect, Vol. 6 (1997): 3-42.
Bratton, Michael, 1994, Civil Society and Political Transition in Africa, Boston,
MA: Institute for Development Research

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Concept and Role of Civil Carothers Thomas, The Concept of a Civil Society is a Recent Invention, in
Society
Foreign Policy (1999): 18-29, retrieved from www.osf.am/wp-content/uploads/
2013/03/Carothers-on-Civil-Society.pdf. November 1, 2017
Diamond Larry, July 1994, Rethinking Civil Society: Toward Democratic
Consolidation, Journal of Democracy, Vol.5, No. 3
Gupta Dipankar, 2000, Culture, Space and the Nation State, From Sentiment to
Structure, Sage Publications, New Delhi
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/SC-orders-audit-of-30-lakh-NGOs/
article17020950.ece
Mishra Kailash K., Chaupal as Multidimensional Public Space for Civil Society
in India, Paper presented in the International Seminar jointly organized by Indira
Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi and National Folklore Support
Centre, Chennai in Delhi on Folklore, Public Space and Civil Society on October
7-11, 2002
Singh, Vijender, 2012, An Analysis of Concept and Role of Civil Society in
Contemporary India, Global Journal of Human Social Sciences, Vol. 12, retrieved
from https://globaljournals.org/GJHSS_Volume12/10-An-Analysis-of-Concept-
and-Role.pdf, November 4, 2017
The World Bank, 2010, Defining Civil Society, retrieved from http://
go.worldbank.org/4CE7W046K0
Triffonova, Elena, Civil Society- A Key Element for Post-Cold-War-Zeitgeist,
NA
World Economic Forum, 2013, The Future Role of Civil Society, retrieved from
www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_FutureRoleCivilSociety_Report_2013.pdf,
November 1, 2017

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