Howard's first reason, being "mistrust of communist organizations," is a stronger argument. Communist regimes did not allow organizational activity of the public and actually forced people to join state-controlled organizations, which instilled durable, negative feelings towards organizations in general. The people's communist experience may have had a strong effect and lasting impact even in a changed system. Howard suggests that the state may be valuable in encouraging postcommunist citizens to participate in public organizational activities. However, given the sense of mistrust of communist organizations that be applied similarly to public organizations, state action may be dangerous in regards to the people's perceptions and the potential for a slippery slope, and actually prevent increased participation. Postcommunist citizens must be convinced that their new systems will last, and are effective and real in order to strengthen civil society. Under these beliefs, the people will feel more comfortable and trustworthy of public activity. State initiative may make postcommunist citizens suspicious and lead to even more increased state action, which will hurt the growth of civil society.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The Delicacy of Civil Society
In Marc Howard's article, "The Weakness of Postcommunist Civil Society," Howard attempts to explain the relatively low levels of public participation in organizational activity in postcommunist countries according to three common factors. The third reason, being "postcommunist disappointment," is a weak argument that Howard seems to arrive at in a circular manner. Howard asserts that many postcommunist citizens have been dissatisfied by their new systems that have failed to fulfill their hopes and expectations for political and economic improvement. As a result, this disappointment has caused people to be less inclined to participate in public activities. Howard specifically refers to prodemocracy movements as an example of moving towards development in postcommunist countries. According to this argument, the weakness of civil society is a result of the failure to establish a democratic system and market causes people to be discouraged from organizational activity and therefore, produces a weak civil society. However, earlier in the article, Howard states that the weakness of civil society hinders the substantiation and consolidation of a democratic system. According to this claim, the failure of democracy occurs in the presence of an already weak civil society. In this light, the weakness of civil society that exists in postcommunist countries prevents the successful establishment of democracy.
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In complete agreement with your conclusion, I think that the four commonalities of postcommunist nations suggest that an attempt by the state to have a larger role in civil society would not be received well by postcommunist societies. Howard states that "A convincing body of research has demonstrated that, in the older democracies, the state has played a crucial role in enabling, facilitating, and encouraging the existence and flourishing of civil society organizations. Although obviously it cannot force its citizens to join organizations, the state can pass legislation that protects the rights of organizations, as well as provide tax or other institutional incentives that encourage them to organize and recruit members." I believe that the striking differences in the situation of former communist states and "old democracies" causes this idea to be inapplicable. Rather, I believe that the mistrust of communist organizations which "not only attempted to eliminate any form of independent group activity but also supplanted it with an intricately organized system of state-controlled organizations, in which participation was often mandatory" causes citizens to be extremely frightened of a growing role of the state in organizations. Coupled with postcommunist disappointment, I believe that citizens in postcommunist states could potentially overreact to even the smallest attempt by the state to have control or influence in civil society as it would evoke memories of communism. It is my fear that this overreaction would lead to even less participation in civil society, a further distrust of the government, and perhaps even, a derailment from the track towards democracy.
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