Report Outline

A. What is Civil Society? B. Reinterpreting Civil Society: The Context of Philippine NGO Movement C. Historical Sketch of Philippine NGOs as Social Movement D. Alternative Development

The Meaning of Civil Society

What is Civil Society?

Civil society refers to the arena of uncoerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values. In theory, its institutional forms are distinct from those of the state, family and market, though in practice, the boundaries between state, civil society, family and market are often complex, blurred and negotiated. London School of Economics Centre for Civil Society

What is Civil Society?

Civil society is the proper stage for the evolution and development of democratic processes, institutions and political structures. Civil society is an agent for achieving a good society.

Best
Cause - oriented groups or organizations

Unelected meddlers and hecklers without any real political base

Worst

The different institutions and units that make up civil society are:
NGOs POs Registered Charities Religious/Faith-based Institutions Academe Media Business associations Gender, political and social movements and parties Trade Unions Self-help groups Advocacy groups Basic communities where ordinary people live

Mechanisms that Encourage Civil Society Involvement

The 1987 Philippine Constitution raises this participation and involvement to the stature of a constitutional policy. The Local Government Code looks at NGOs and POs as partners of LGUs in the development and promotion of the welfare of the communities.

Mechanisms that Encourage Civil Society Involvement

RA 7941 mandates proportional representation of party-list representatives in Congress. The Initiative and Referendum Act recognizes constitutionally enshrined right of citizens to directly propose, enact or approve, or reject any act or law or part thereof passed by Congress or any local legislative body.

Reinterpreting Civil Society: The Context of the Philippine NGO Movement

Concept of Civil Society

Public Good and the Public Interests as Core Constructs Autonomy from the State: A Qualified Relationship of Independence Plurality and Diversity in Civil Society Dynamism of Civil Society

Dynamism of Civil Society

Dynamism is one characteristic of CS. It is transformative because:
It is not a natural or meta-historical reality but rather develops and changes over periods of time; It transforms as it interacts with the state; and Conflict and contradiction is endemic to it due to the varying interests, the plurality and diversity.

Concept of Civil Society

Conflicts and Contradictions in Civil Society Respect for Libertarian and Socialist Variants

Concept of Civil Society: A Brief History on the Discourse

Socrates Conflicts within society should be resolved through public argument using dialectic, a form of rational dialogue to uncover truth. Public argument through dialectic was imperative to ensure civility in the polis and good life of the people

Concept of Civil Society: A Brief History on the Discourse

Plato The ideal state was a just society in which people dedicate themselves to the common good, practice civic virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation and justice, and perform the occupational role to which they were best suited.

Concept of Civil Society: A Brief History on the Discourse

Aristotle Polis was an association of associations that enables citizens to share in the virtuous task of ruling and being ruled.

Concept of Civil Society: A Brief History on the Discourse

Thomas Hobbes
The social contract theory of Thomas Hobbes set forth two types of relationship. One was vertical, between the Leviathan and the people; therefore, the latter submitted themselves to the former. The second system was the realm of horizontal relationship among the people. In that system, people, under the surveillance of Leviathan, were compelled to limit their natural rights in a way that would not harm the rights of others.

Concept of Civil Society: A Brief History on the Discourse

John Locke Civil society is the arena where the inconveniences and insufficiencies of the state of nature are rectified through mutuality of contrast and consent. He recognized the existence of a social contract between the state and civil society, with the latter being preserved as the unconstitutional state is dissolved.

Concept of Civil Society: A Brief History on the Discourse

Thomas Paine He denied any positive quality and role for the state.

Concept of Civil Society: A Brief History on the Discourse

Tocqueville Active and strong political institutions are both necessary and desirable for freedom and equality to be achieved. While recognizing the role of the state in avoiding strife, disorder and the violation of democratic values, he suggested mechanisms for preventing monopolies of power. He spoke of Civil Society as one such mechanism beyond immediate state control.

Concept of Civil Society: A Brief History on the Discourse

Hegel He regarded the state as the embodiment of the highest form of reason, and thus it was perfectly suited to regulate human affairs. Our everyday relationships in society, he said tend to be marked by conflict and confusion. The state, as the epitome of disinterested wisdom, mediates and provides direction.

Concept of Civil Society: A Brief History on the Discourse

Marx The state, he said, is very much a product of the conflict s of social life. It exists not to mediate but to enforce the dominance of one class over the rest of society. To understand the nature of the state and the role it plays in society, we must, he argued, look into the interplay of classes at the level of social production.

Concept of Civil Society: A Brief History on the Discourse

Antonio Gramsci Gramsci located civil society in the political superstructure. He underlined the crucial role of civil society as the contributor of the cultural and ideological capital required for the survival of the hegemony of capitalism. Rather than posing it as a problem, as in earlier Marxist conceptions, Gramsci viewed civil society as the site for problem-solving.

Organic Intellectuals
Critical press Independent POs Social Movements Development NGOs

Organic Intellectuals
Vision
Society free from oppression

Mission
Empower people

Objective
Absorb the state into civil society

Concept of Civil Society: A Brief History on the Discourse

Jurgen Habermas To be able to protect men and women from the subjection of the economy and of the bureaucracy, he proposed a return to lifeworld conception of Civil Society autonomy from the drive for power and profit so as to avoid succumbing to economic and political power.

Reconsidering Civil Society: Our Present Context

Civil Society as an Organized Citizenry Civil Societys Power to Bargain, Negotiate and Influence Power Civil Society Framework: Not Either-Societyor-State

Reconsidering Civil Society: Our Present Context

Civil Society is not Devoid of Politics NGOs as Part of Civil Society Civil Society as Community

Sectoral Interests and the Public Sphere

Reconsidering Civil Society: Our Present Context

Civil Societys Sublation with the State
Sublation - to negate or eliminate but preserve as a partial element in a synthesis

State Civil Society Relations

The State Culture of governance Aims for stability Concerned with retention or concentration of poor Focus on nation Growth Immediacy

Civil Society Culture of resistance Works for change Concerned with acquisition or distribution of power Focus on communities Development Sustainability

State Civil Society Relations

Civil Societys Perception States Perception of of the State Civil Society Questions sincerity or motive Confrontational, impatient, of the state, thus reluctant to has appreciation for participate in state processes government venues and Inefficient, incompetent processes Does not treat civil society Knee-jerk reaction to groups as equals government actions and initiatives Uneasy over civil societys emergence as counter power

Indigenization and Internationalization of Civil Society

Indigenization of Civil Society Internationalization of Civil Society

Some Implications for NGO Action

Flexible and Non-fixated Action Not An Either-Society-or-State Approach Need for a Re-articulation of the State A New Paradigm of Social Movement Rediscover the Constituency of Civil Society Strengthening the Internationalization and Indigenization of Civil Society

The Rise of Philippine NGOs as Social Movement

A Historical Sketch

Objectives
Preliminary sketch of the evolution of NGOs Study NGOs in their collective form Derive learning/s and stimulate further study

The Years Before 1965: A Brief Pre-History

American Colonial Period to Post-WWII: Relief, Rehabilitation and Welfare The Emergence of Private Foundations: Family, Corporate and Research The Roots of Cooperativism in the Philippines From Welfare to Community Development: Anti-Communist Inspired Social Reform

1965- 1972: The Deepening Social Crisis and the Rise of New Social Movements
The Catholic Church: From Social Action to Total Human Liberation Agrarian Reform Lobby: Reemergence of the Peasantry Community Organizing: PECCO and the Emergence of the Urban Poor Sector Business Response to Social Crisis Growth of Cooperativism

1972-1978: Coping with Repression, Carving a Niche

Resumption of NGO Activity 1. Experiments in popular organizing amidst repression 2. Continuing church involvement 3. Secular NGOs established 4. Exploration and innovation

1972-1978: Coping with Repression, Carving a Niche

Initial Electoral Struggles Politicalization and Ideologicalization of Development Work The Beginnings of National Networking: The Examples of AF and NATCCO

1978-1983: Expansion and Innovation

Expansion and Innovation International Solidarity and Support Pours In Cooperatives: Second Wave and Growing Dependence Networking Catches On Continuing State Intervention and Harassment

1983-1986: NGO Support to the Surging Mass Movement

Participation in the Surging Mass Movement Participation in Socioeconomic Work Strategic Partnerships with Foreign Partners: The PDAP and PACAP examples NGO Participation in the 1986 Snap Elections and EDSA Revolt

1986-1992: Ebbs and Flows of a Painful Transition

Recognition of Key Players Proliferation of NGOs Developments and Breakthroughs in the NGO Terrain

Developments and Breakthroughs in the NGO Terrain

1. Basic unity in the NGO movement: upscaling through networking and coalition building 2. Lobbying and advocacy for policy reform and social legislation 3. Professionalization of NGOs 4. Sustainable development as the new development paradigm 5. Stress on localization and regionalization

Areas of Continuing NGO Discussion

1. Economic developments and issues: funding, ODA and sustainability 2. NGO-PO dynamics 3. Participation in the electoral arena 4. GO-NGO collaboration and confrontations

5 Major Electoral Related Areas Where NGOs Could Participate

1. Advocacy for electoral reforms 2. Raising electoral consciousness among the people 3. Advancement of the peoples platform of agenda in the elections 4. Direct participation through the fielding of or campaigning for chosen candidates 5. Post-election activities such as monitoring and feedback giving

Other Developments
1. Philippine NGOs in the international arena 2. Third wave of cooperative growth 3. Resurgence of relief and rehabilitation work 4. Continuation of inter-NGO tensions

1992 to the Present: Maturation and Renewal

Sociopolitical Context: Shifting Realities and Complex Developments NGOs and Civil Society Continuing Development as a Political Player

Trends Within the NGO Sector

1. Greater openness and capacity for mainstreaming 2. Advocacy shifts
1. From the national to the local 2. From the national to the international 3. From the legislative to the executive branch of government 4. From the more principled to the more pragmatic

Trends Within the NGO Sector

3. Continuation/upscaling of previous involvements: growth areas 4. Rethinking of social organizing strategies 5. Continuing internal professionalization 6. More academe-NGO cross-pollination

1992 to the Present: Maturation and Renewal

Continuities and Shifts in Development Funding Greater Awareness for the Cultural Aspects of Development Work

RX: A Development Alternative

A Worsening Global Crisis

Crisis of Poverty Crisis of Environment Crisis of Social Conflict

Economic Growth Todays Panacea

The experts said that the answer is to accelerate economic growth. By accelerating economic growth we will be able to: Drag up the poor above the poverty line Generate the resources to deal with the environmental crisis Increase military expenditure in order to enforce order

Growth Centered vs. People Centered Development

Growth Centered development model measures human progress by increases in material consumption. This model measures progress by increases in output.

Debt-Financed Development: A Contradiction in Terms

What is international assistance? Its a transfer of foreign exchange. What can you do with foreign exchange? You can buy something abroad with it. Now what is development? Real development is developing your capacities to use your own resources to meet your own needs. The fact of accepting foreign assistance ultimately implies accepting more dependence on foreign producers.

Focusing on People

Business

World Bank/IMF

Government

International Agencies

Strategies of Development Oriented NGOs: Four Generations

First Generation: Relief and Welfare Second Generation: Community Self-Help Third Generation: Institutional Change Fourth Generation: Development as a Peoples Movement

Strategies of Development Oriented NGOs: Four Generations

Generation
1st 2nd 3rd

Problem
Problem of poverty is defined as shortage Local poverty results from the lack of local inertia. Improper institutional framework and policies Inadequate mobilizing vision

Strategy
Relief and Welfare Community Self-help Institutional Change Peoples Movement

4th

Having seen all this, you can choose to look the other way but you can never say again: I did not know. William Wilberforce