Civil Society and Democratisation

Résumé du document

Civil Society organisations are responsible to explain the processes of democratisation, ever since the fall of the wall, and the collapse of the Communist regime in Central and Eastern Europe. Civil Society organisations have often been seen as the key for the success of the 'Velvet Revolution', that avoided civil war in Central Europe, not to name the famous Polish trade union 'Solidarnoc'. Generally, the Civil Society is at the centre of western democratic issues, when considering how to enhance the representative democracies. But we generally accept the role of the Civil Society and never deeply question it.

Extraits

[...] ‘'Civil society is marked by a multitude of opinions''[15]. Usually, when authoritarian regimes let the process of liberalisation happen, they can only return with many difficulties to the status quo. This was the case in Spain[16] where civil society emerged first in the phase of liberalisation, while Franco was still in power, leading to the boiling cultural creations known as La Movida. Now that many different interests can speak up for themselves, the next step forward would be that this representation be institutionalised through the mechanisms of Democracy. [...]

[...] Great hopes is put in this concept, especially from Western scholars who see civil society as a real chance for the people to gain Democracy for themselves, by themselves. However, does civil society creates democracy or if it is the case that Democracy creates Civil Society? Moreover, to what extent is democratisation a bottom-up process? Civil society is a concept that has spread all over the world and seen by some people as a global phenomenon. Consisting of networks of trans-national organisations, global civil society has is often theorised as an appealing strategy for global democratisation. [...]

[...] Some civil society organisations can be dangerous for democratisation such as neo-patriarchal organisations in Africa[12] . Therefore not only one has to take into account the nature of the organisation but also and more importantly the interactions between civil society organisations, the state and its structure, and the people[13]. This common misunderstanding of what civil society is like testifies of the high hopes which have been put into this concept[14], feeling often mixed with a strong idealisation. Civil society is a concept many people use to try to explain the process of democratisation, but in a theoretical rush, they do not take time to question the assumptions underlying this concept. [...]

[...] The case of Spain is striking. Whereas Franco had designated Prince Juan Carlos to be his successor and had raised him like his son, Juan Carlos ‘betrayed' Franco and decided the democratisation of the country in 1977[9]. His decision can be interpreted in different ways: of course he answered to a growing pressure from civil society, however, if he had been not willing to do it, full power was between his hands. A contrary example would be today's China. Despite a very high pace of economic growth and a traditionally very centralised state, democratisation is not on the Chinese Agenda mainly because the economic and political elites have no interest in launching such a process of democratisation, which would disturb the economic activity. [...]

[...] Therefore, liberalisation can eventually lead to Democratisation. However, there is sometimes a gap between the theory, witch emphasises the role of civil society in processes of democratisation, and the facts, which lead us to refine our analysis, by dividing the democratisation process into different steps, within which civil society has more or less importance. To come back on an argument we made earlier, if civil society has to be understood in its fight against a state, however, it does not mean that civil society itself has to be made of a national community corresponding to the state they are fighting. [...]