Civil Society
Second International Women's Strike, Santa Fe, Argentina, March 8, 2018
Credit: Melina Nerina Medrano, 2018 / CC BY SA
Summary
The notion of civil society, once it became international, refers to a variety of actors and invites us to question the uses of the expression. To talk of international civil society homogenizes and de-territorializes these actors, while their practices continue to evince inequalities, tensions and important relationships on a local and national scale. Civil society actors organize protest, participate in initiatives alongside state governments and international organizations, as well as put forward proposals.
The notion of civil society emerged from political philosophy, where it has a variety of meanings. It became an international concept from the 1990s onward. It describes phenomena thought to indicate the emergence of a worldwide/ transnational /global civil society: alter-globalist demonstrations at the G8 summits and at WTO (World Trade Organization) ministerial conferences, World Social Forums, marches in various cities around the world to protest against intervention in Iraq in 2003, and international coordination of peasant organizations with La Via Campesina from 1993.
The term describes actors who organize themselves independently of states and intergovernmental organizations which tend to challenge and influence them. Like the related terms of global public opinion or global public space, its definition is vague. Depending on who is speaking, it can include NGOs, civil society organizations, social or religious movements, native peoples, sometimes trade unions and think tanks and even, in some cases, members of the trade sector, such as MNCs (multinational corporations).
The uses of civil society
This diversity of meanings invites us to question the uses of such a designation. The self-proclaimed actors of civil society use it to demand recognition for those they claim to represent: the people, those occupying the lower echelons of society, the voiceless, victims, and so on. The term is used by IGOs (Inter-Governmental Organizations) as diverse as ECOSOC (United Nations Economic and Social Council), which in 1996 allowed national NGOs to have consultative status, the World Bank, the ILO (International Labor Organization) and the IOS (International Organization for Standardization). The expression lends these bodies a democratic veneer and helps them overcome their legitimacy crisis by demonstrating their openness – albeit selective and hierarchized – to non-state actors. Even the United Nations Security Council, with its inter-state composition, participates in this movement, devising the “Arria Formula,” so named after the Venezuelan diplomat who first invited a priest to testify informally before Security Council delegates. Researcher place this normative, positive, and homogenizing discourse in perspective.
An international civil society?
First, to talk of an international civil society in the singular means uniting actors who are very diverse in terms of values, financing (public, private), resources, strategies, positioning, and access to the international scene. In this respect, inequalities in the territorial distribution of those NGOs that have consultative status with ECOSOC reveal the domination of NGOs from the Northern hemisphere.
NGOs accredited with Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) status, 1946-2016
Comment: Since 1946, the UN has allowed non-governmental actors to be present, or even to participate in multilateral debates. NGOs whose request to do so is accepted thus obtain consultative status at the ECOSOC. Three statuses exist: a “general” status granted to large international NGOs whose activities cover several areas; a “special” status which concerns those more specialized in one particular area, and finally a “roster” status which combines the other two. The map shows that accredited NGOs come primarily from the United States (almost 1,000), from Europe (United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, and Italy) but also from India (more than 200), Nigeria, and Pakistan.
Second, it masks the conflicts and confrontations that exist between these protagonists. For example, the international peasant movement La Via Campesina was fraught with difficulties and tensions between peasant organizations, the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), and the Paulo Freire Foundation (Delphine Thivet) from its inception.
Vía Campesina member organizations, 2017
Comment: The Via Campesina is an international movement that began in the early 1990s and represents small farmers and landless or indigenous people. This movement – which opposes industrial agriculture (a major user of GMOs and pesticides) and promotes peasant agriculture, equitable agrarian reform, and food sovereignty – brings together numerous organizations in America, Western Europe, and South Asia (particularly India) and, to a lesser extent, in South East Asia and a few countries in Africa.
Furthermore, the global dimension tends to conceal the importance of local and national aspects: activists are not detached from all territorial allegiance and their debate is embedded in national preoccupations. And while this expression seems to indicate that civil society has a measure of autonomy in relation to states and international organizations, studies emphasize the extent to which civil societies are “analyzed from the top down.” Finally, this concept implicitly invites us to think of these movements and organizations in terms of innovation. But this should be put into perspective: the international movement for the abolition of slavery dates from the late eighteenth century, when the first international organizations were already spaces for circulation and exchange with non-state actors.
Consultation, participation, proposition
These different actors said to represent civil society are often depicted as opposition forces, mobilizing in order to protest, like the alter-globalists and, more recently, the Occupiers and the Indignant, who combat neoliberal globalization. But their actions are not confined to protesting. Their cooperation with states enables them to influence the international agenda: for example, in the non-governmental Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (NGOWG), Namibia and Jamaica worked together in October 2000 to hold an Arria Formula meeting in the Security Council, to which several women activists (such as Luz Méndez) were invited, in order to prepare for the adoption of Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security.
The participation of civil society actors in the FAO’s (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) Committee on World Food Security, reformed in 2009, allowed this organization, which was then in crisis and rivalled by the World Bank, the OECD, and the WTO, to reposition itself in debates over agriculture. Civil society is also a force for putting forward proposals, as demonstrated by the success of two international coalitions, the international campaign to ban antipersonnel mines (ICBL) and the campaign to abolish nuclear weapons (ICAN), which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 and 2017 respectively.
Arria-formula meetings at the Security Council, 1992-2017
Comment: The graph shows the regular annual recourse to a type of UN Security Council meeting: the “Arria Formula.” These informal meetings – which bear the name of a Venezuelan representative to the UN in 1992 – enable members of the Security Council to have “frank” discussions (as opposed to “diplomatic” discussions) with invited guests (both governmental and non-governmental).
- civil society > Civil Society
- At the national level, civil society refers to a social body that is separate from the state and greater than the individuals and groups of which it is formed (social classes, socio-professional categories, generations, etc.). The notion of a global civil society emerged in the 1970s (John Burton, World Society) and refers to social relations formed in the international arena and beyond the control of states, when citizens of all countries take concerted action to demand regulations that may be supranational or infranational. However, the term conceals a great diversity. The notion of world society emerged among geographers in the 1990s and refers to the more all-encompassing process of creating a social space at the planetary level.
- transnational > Transnational
- A relationship is transnational when it forms at the global level, whether intentionally or in practice, and exists outside the national context and at least partly beyond the control or influence of national governments (Bertrand Badie, 1999). Transnationalism is an interpretation of international relations that emphasizes the role of non-state actors and cross-border flows. It has developed since the 1970s around authors such as Joseph Nye, Robert Keohane and James Rosenau, in reaction to the dominance of realist and neorealist analyses.
- alter-globalist > Alter-globalist
- Someone who favors fairer and more human globalization that does not only take into account the economic interests of the most powerful businesses and states. Most alter-globalists are not opposed to the globalization process itself, but to its present liberal and commercial version. They therefore try to persuade public opinion of the need for sustainable development, fair trade, and alleviation of debt for the poorest countries. The alter-globalist galaxy includes local, national, and international groups, and makes abundant use of the internet to conduct its activism. The regular meetings of the World Social Forum, where experiences can be exchanged, ideas discussed, and proposals formulated are just one example among others.
- G8 > G7/G8
- Following the informal meetings of the Library Group (comprising representatives of the United States, Japan, France, the Federal Republic of Germany and the United Kingdom), French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing brought together the heads of government of six states in 1975 (Italy being added to this list). Becoming G7 (Canada) in 1976, then G8 (Russia) in 1997, the group has now become seven again following Russia’s suspension (due to its annexation of Crimea). Initially focused on economics and finance, the G7-G8 agenda has since expanded to address security, political and social issues. This club of the major powers appears to lack legitimacy and representativeness; its summits regularly give rise to demonstrations.
- states > State
- The state is a political system that is centralized (unlike the feudal system), differentiated (from civil society, public/private space), institutionalized (institutions are depersonalized), territorialized (a territory whose borders mark the absolute limit of its jurisdiction), that claims sovereignty (holding ultimate power) and that bears responsibility for ensuring its population’s security. In public international law, the state is defined as a population living on a territory defined by borders subject to a political authority (the national territorial state).
- public opinion > Public Opinion
- This term refers to all socially constructed representations expressed by the media, in surveys and by members of the elites, conveying what the population is said to think about current issues. Public opinion may also be expressed on international matters. Many actors, including NGOs, charities, companies and international organizations, refer to “international public opinion,” and in so doing give it a degree of social existence. However, transposition to the international level of a concept already contested at the national level is problematic. The rise of transnational activism and solidarity, expressed through protest movements and lobbies, does not necessarily express global public opinion.
- public space > Public sphere
- Concept defined by the philosopher Jürgen Habermas (1978), who saw politics as a subject of debate, of publicity and therefore subject to the influence of national public opinion, which in turn places substantial limits on absolutism. Transposed to international level, we can see the development of this kind of sphere in the fact that actors other than nation-states engage with questions that were formerly the preserve of national sovereignty.
- NGOs > Nongovernmental Organization
- Use of this expression became more widespread following its inclusion in Article 71 of the United Nations Charter. NGOs do not have an international legal status and the acronym is used in different contexts to refer to very different kinds of actors. It generally designates associations formed by individuals over the long term in relation to not-for-profit goals, often linked to values and beliefs (ideological, humanist, ecological, religious, etc.) rather than financial interests. Active on a wide range of issues at both the local and global levels, NGOs now number tens of thousands, but vary greatly in the scale of their budgets, staff and development.
- MNCs > Multinational corporation
- Company that has undertaken foreign direct investment (FDI) giving it access to facilities that it owns fully or in part (subsidiaries). The first MNCs date from the late 19th century; corporations of this kind have become widespread in the early 21st century. The majority of FDI takes place between industrialized nations. Such companies are now transnational rather than multinational, the largest among them tending to evolve into global corporate networks.
- non-state actors > Actor
- An individual, group, or organization whose actions affect the distribution of assets and resources on a global scale. The state has long been considered as the main actor on the international scene, but the number of non-state actors has increased and diversified (businesses, non-governmental organizations, special interest groups, mafias, religious actors, etc.) over the past few decades. Contemporary globalization has made the relationships between these actors more complex.
- Security Council
- According to the United Nations Charter, the Security Council has main responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. It is composed of five permanent members (China, United States, France, United Kingdom, and Russia), who can each quash a resolution plan with a negative vote (right of veto), and ten members (six until 1965) elected by the General Assembly for a two-year period that is not immediately renewable. Its resolutions are legally binding upon member states.
- civil societies > Civil Society
- At the national level, civil society refers to a social body that is separate from the state and greater than the individuals and groups of which it is formed (social classes, socio-professional categories, generations, etc.). The notion of a global civil society emerged in the 1970s (John Burton, World Society) and refers to social relations formed in the international arena and beyond the control of states, when citizens of all countries take concerted action to demand regulations that may be supranational or infranational. However, the term conceals a great diversity. The notion of world society emerged among geographers in the 1990s and refers to the more all-encompassing process of creating a social space at the planetary level.
- slavery > Slavery
- From the start of the 17th century through to the end of the 19th century, slavery formed the basis of economic growth and societal organization throughout the New World (in the southern states of the US, the Caribbean, Brazil, etc.). African domestic and agricultural laborers, imported and traded as a commodity, drove the development of sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations and the mining of precious metals. Today, the International Labor Organization (ILO) defines modern slavery as covering all victims of forced labor in both public and private spheres (domestic labor, construction, agriculture), of sexual exploitation and of forced marriage.
- international organizations > International Organization
- In the words of Clive Archer, an IO is “a formal, continuous structure established by agreement between members (governmental and/or non-governmental) from two or more sovereign states with the aim of pursuing the common interest of the membership.” Marie-Claude Smouts identifies three characteristics of IOs: they arise out of a “founding act” (treaty, charter, statute), have a material existence (headquarters, finance, staff), and form a “coordination mechanism.
- circulation > Circulation
- People, merchandise, services, capital, information, ideas, values, and models are being transferred and exchanged in ever-increasing numbers. The expansion, diversification, and acceleration of movement typify the ongoing process of globalization. Circulation connects economic and social spaces through networks which, depending on their density, fluidity, output, and hierarchy, can differentiate them considerably. Of all types of circulation, information in the broadest sense is experiencing the most rapid growth, whereas the circulation of people is the one encountering most obstacles.
- neoliberal > Neoliberal
- The term “neoliberal” is one deployed by critics and not a label attached to any self-proclaimed school of economics. It generally refers to economic policies inspired by the Chicago School (Milton Friedman, awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1976), partially applied by Margaret Thatcher in the UK and Ronald Reagan in the USA during the 1980s, and subsequently recommended by economic and financial institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF. These policies translate into state-implemented privatization and market deregulation measures and differ from classical liberalism in the importance accorded to economic efficiency relative to political freedoms.