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Abstract
Civil Society and Goverance in 16 Developing Countries,
World Governance Survey Discussion Paper 4
With a growing interest in participatory forms of development
and the idea that institutions outside the state are also
important contributors to social and economic advancement,
civil society has acquired a new significance. Sitting between
the family and the state, the civil society arena is where
the private becomes public; the social becomes political.
As part of a project to undertake comprehensive governance
assessments, we focus here on the nature of the rules (formal
and informal) that affect the civil society arena. The extent
to which civil society is an integral part of policy-making
is an important factor in national development. More broadly,
the rules in the civil society arena are important for how
people perceive the political system at large.
This paper presents the findings for the civil society arena
in 16 developing countries. We find that the civil society
arena is generally considered to be quite open in the countries
included in our study. And it has recorded a solid improvement
in recent years. In this respect, democracy has scored a victory.
Not everything, however, is fine. Comments by respondents
indicate that in many countries there is still a tendency
for governments to arrest or intimidate citizens who propagate
views different from those in power. It is also clear that
in many countries there is discrimination in the public arena.
While civil society may be vital, there is a general impression
that public input into policy is still quite limited. Many
governments simply do not provide an environment in which
such input is facilitated.
The discussion has interesting implications for research
and practice. An important issue for further research is to
better understand why a strong civil society does not necessarily
translate into increased policy influence. Our work suggests
two particular lines: first on different forms of social capital
and second on the relations between civil and political society.
For practitioners, it does seem that investments in civil
society made since the late 1980s are beginning to pay off;
people can speak out and form groups. But, the work higlights
that we cannot continue treating civil society and state as
if one is the "good guy", the other the "bad
guy". The survey reinforces the argument that the quality
of the state reflects the quality of its societal base. It
is important, therefore, that efforts to improve governance
tackle reforms of the state as part of strengthening civil
society.
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