Download Civil Society, Ethnicity and the State: a threefold

Civil Society, Ethnicity
and the State: a
threefold relationship
An paper delivered by
GEORGE SCHOPFLIN at the
conference Civil Society in Austria,
20-21 June 1997
Reviewed by Dolores Joseph
SO203
Theme
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This article states that democracy is made up of three
key interdependent elements: Civil society, state and
ethnicity.
Each of these elements have different functions and
roles, sometimes overlapping and sometimes
contradictory attitudes and aspirations. They are
reshaped through continuous interaction.
So civil society is not a static entity but a shifting one
responsive to changes in politics and vulnerable to
pressures. It is bound by other actors on the stage eg
the government and how civil society reacts to policies
and regulations imposed on them.
Main Issues
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Civil Society
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Ethnicity
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described in the Collins Dictionary of Sociology
means market and economic relations (in contrast
with the activity of the state); a realm intermediate
between the family and the state.
Ethnicity as described by the Sociology dictionary
means a shared (perceived or actual) racial, linguistic
or national identity of a social group.
The State

as described by the Sociology dictionary is the
overall territory and social system which is subject to
a particular rule or domination.
Civil Society
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It is suggested that the stronger the state, the
weaker the civil society. Some argue that the
state oppresses civil society. However it is
difficult to imagine the civil society operating
successfully without the state because the
citizens are protected by the laws of the state.

The state provides the framework in which the
civil society operates with a degree of coherence
Civil Society cont’d
 This
framework includes the rule of law
which is administered by the state
machinery namely the judiciary, legislature
and executive and disciplined forces
 Equally
the civil society must be free to
challenge the state in its rigid bureaucracy
Ethnicity
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Sociologists tend to regard social groups as
being identifiable in terms of cultural phenomena
such as shared customs, institutions, rituals and
language.
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Where a set of values and identity are shared
between different social strata, where they
regard one another as sharing certain
commonalities, respond to the same symbols
and share certain key moral aims and
obligations, the basis for redistribution of power
becomes less hazardous.
Ethnicity cont’d
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Under pre-modern conditions the level of
consent was lower, affected fewer people so that
ethnic identities weren’t a major factor in the
relationship between state and society but the
growth of state power and capacity generated
the need for a new basis of trust.
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If ethnic consent was absent, the redistribution
of power could not take place or the state was
divided, an example is the failure of the Royal
Prussia as a state, German speaking but subject
to the Polish crown.
The State
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The State is a set of institutions that possess
authority to make laws which govern people in
one or more societies
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Where premodern states had subjects, modern
states have citizens – full members of political
communities enjoying the right to vote, the right
to stand for office, freedom of expression,
welfare rights.
Functions of the State
 The
State makes laws, policies, rules and
enforces legitimate use of force
 It is the legal and moral enforcer of laws,
protects boundaries, is the impartial arbiter
for conflict and
 legitimises citizenship, relationships and
resources distribution (refer to Week 3
lecture notes)
Citizenship
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Citizenship is defined in this analysis as the package of
legal, political, institutional, economic, social and cultural
relationships that bind society and the individual to the
state and which govern political relationships within
society.
Citizenship is explicit, open to questioning directly and
subject to continuous political engagement.
It is through the rules of citizenship that civil society finds
expression and there are procedures, mechanisms and
provisions that make power transparent and predictable.
Citizenship cont’d
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Without the stabilising element of citizenship, the
exercise of power becomes arbitrary and generates
insecurity; this insecurity then reacts on ethnicity and can
give rise to a sense that one’s ethnic identity is
threatened which can trigger off a deep-seated
intolerance born of the fear that one’s ethnic identity is in
danger.
This happens when the state is too weak to protect civil
society or has no interest in doing so.
The combination of state and ethnicity when used
against civil society is what usually leads to the shift
towards nationalism when ethnicity becomes the major
issue in politics.
Strengths
 The
key proposition in this analysis is that
citizenship, ethnicity and the state exist in
mutual interdependence.
 The ideal situation is when a three-fold
equilibrium comes into being which is a
necessary condition for democracy.
 As is understood that threefold
relationships are dynamic, the equilibrium
does not have to be perfect.
Strengths cont’d
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A variety of solutions are possible:
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There are various models of democracy in Europe
today for eg. France can be said to have a strong
state, strong ethnicity and a civil society weaker than
the state.
In Italy there is an inefficient state but a well
articulated civil society and a strong ethnicity resulting
in citizenship-driven social action without the
equilibrating function of the state.
England has a high capacity state and growing
stronger, a weakening civil society and a strong
ethnicity with growing diversity of identities. (Refer to
table of population from week 3 lecture 2)
Cont’d
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Almost every European state is multi ethnic and
creates difficulties in the area of political
management but the answer could be in the
form of powersharing
 If they believe that in democratic states all
citizens have equal right to cultural reproduction
and share in material and symbolic goods then
they identify fully with the state so the question
of suspicion and distrust doesn’t arise.
Weaknesses
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Challenges to the state bring the danger of state
failure, the most common one being the collapse
of a multi ethnic state eg Austria-Hungary,
Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
 In this analysis state failure is attributed to:
complete disappearance (Montenegro); the loss
or addition of territory; major upheaval like
foreign occupation; aftermath of civil war;
decolonisation and the loss of empire.
Weaknesses cont’d

The heart of the problem is that what is regarded
as natural and normal like solidarity, loyalties
and bonds are located in ethnic identity which
obviously vary from one ethnic group to another.
For eg how we perceive another group,
stereotypes, mistrust which lead to racial
divisions.
 This implies that the political and institutional
systems, citizenship must be set up in such a
way to cope with the renegotiation of power
across an ethnic boundary.
Weaknesses cont’d
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The distribution of power must take into account the
imperative for majorities and minorities to provide
security for both. Economic and political problems arise
when one ethnic group dominates state power. Eg the
apartheid in South Africa, and other Asian and Pacific
states
 Ethnicity is not necessarily destructive of democracy,
however, it can undermine democracy when either the
state of civil society or both is too weak to contain it. For
eg ethnic conflicts in Malaysia, Fiji and Sri Lanka
 Without citizenship cultural reproduction is threatened,
without the state the framework for citizenship cannot
operate.
Relevance to the course
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This paper is relevant to the course because it gives us a
historical analysis of how pre modern and modern states
came into being, how people from smaller countries
have totally lost their identity by merging with another or
being lost in a bigger empire. We are losing some
cultural values as globalisation continues to make an
impact in the lives of smaller nation states.
As social and cultural structures built over time are
slowly eroding, the state and civil society have to find a
new role and new relationship as they are now targets of
the impact of Globalisation which is eroding the traditiondriven belief systems.