1 “civil society “ in turbulent times: russian case svetlana kirdina institute of economics,...
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““CIVIL SOCIETY “ CIVIL SOCIETY “ IN TURBULENT TIMES: IN TURBULENT TIMES: RUSSIAN CASERUSSIAN CASE
Svetlana KirdinaInstitute of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences,Moscow, Russia
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OutlineOutline “Civil society” = an Ideologem? “Civil society” and a state:
opponents or partners? “Civil society” in Russia: theory
and empirical data
The importance of terms’ meaning
Once disciple of Confucius asked his Teacher (488 BC): “New governor is going to involve you in the state administration. Where do you start?”. Confucius replied: "First we need to refine the names that do not correspond to the essence ... If the words are unfavorable, the case will not be going well ... (Lun Yu, XIII, p. 8)
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“Civil society” in different ideological contexts (examples) The New Left: civil society has a key role in
defending people against the capitalist state and the market and in asserting the collective will to influence the state;
Neo-liberals: civil society needs the market and is created for the satisfaction of individual interests and private property in accordance with liberal values. .[
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“Civil society” as “liberal” Ideologem
CSI (Civil Society Index): 2 of 4 parameters characterize the basic freedoms and values;
CSSI (Civil Society Strength Index): 1 of 2 groups of parameters is named as Civil Society values factor;
GCSI (Global Civil Society Index): 2 of 5 parameters reflect the distribution of tolerance values.
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Civil society and a state Civil society is the state (since Thomas
Hobbes, John Locke) Civil society is an opponent of the state, or
“political superstructure” (since the Great Scots David Hume, Adam Smith, Patrick Ferguson)
Civil society is a complement rather than an alternative to the state , “the state is seen as a precondition of civil society” (Whaites, 1996; Zaleski, 2006)
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Civil society and a state (Russian version)
Civil society is a part of the state. Its main objective is to promote the social integration through:
o Legitimization of state power;o Public control of state decisions;o Participation in the process of state decision making.
(Russian school of constitutional economics, Russian civil and public law studies).
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December 2004
December 2005
December 2006
December 2009
The strengthening of“the vertical of power”
31 31 29 31
The strengthening of civil rights and freedoms,
civil society42 38 42 48
Neither one nor the other
13 14 11 8
Don’t know 14 17 18 12
Table 1. In your opinion, what could promote the welfare of Russia, %?
(Levada-Center. Press release 21.01.2010. What is democracy and whether it is necessary in Russia?)
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June 2008 June 2010on the private initiative of citizens, “bottom-up”, independently of the
government or other political forces14 13
initiated by the authorities 32 30
initiated by opposition political forces 21 22initiated by external forces interested
in a particular way of Russia's development 11 13
Don’t know 22 22
Table 2. Do you think the majority of public movements and initiatives in modern Russia is emerging…
Levada-Center. Press release 25.06.2010. Problems of social and political participation.
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March 1998
February 2006
February 2010
A unitary centralized statewith the heads of local authorities
appointed by the Center 25 41 46
State with the most extensive rights of local authorities and central government coordinating their
interests
52 39 36
Don’t know 23 20 19
Table 3. What type of state would you like to see to exist in Russia?
Levada-Center. Press release 16.03.2010. State and society interrelations in Russian public opinion.
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November 2001
February 2006
December 2006
December 2007
December 2010
The authorities should take care of
people66 68 74 66 65
People should be able to obtain from
authorities what they need
33 28 21 30 29
Don’t know 3 4 5 4 6
Table 4. In your opinion, on which of the following principles a society, in which you want to live,
should be based?Levada-Center. Press release 14.01.2011. On state and society
interrelations.
Institutional matrices theory (X- and Y-theory) as one of theoretical explanations
Kirdina S. G. Institutional Matrices and Development in Russia (2 edition). Novosibirsk, 2001 (In Russian).
Kirdina S. The Institutional Matrices Theory in the Context of Modern Sociology. /Visions and Divisions: the Russian Outlook The Russian Academy of Sciences - The Russian Society of Sociologists. - Moscow-Helsinki, 2001.
Kirdina S. Fundamental Difference in the Transformation Process between Russia and East European Countries // Berliner Osteuropa Info, № 16/2001.
Kirdina S. Institutional Matrices and Institutional Changes / Economic Transformation and Evolutionary Theory of J. Schumpeter. The 5th International Symposium on Evolutionary Economics, Pushchino, Moscow region, Russia, 2003.
Institutional matrix in sociology / Sociological encyclopedia. Moscow, 2003 (in Russian),
Institutional matrices theory/ Sociological dictionary. Moscow, 2010 (in Russian).
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X- and Y-matrices
XY
Redistributive economy
Com
munit
ari
an
ideolo
gy
Unitary-
centralize
d
political o
rder
Feder
ativ
e p
olit
ical
ord
er
Ideolo
gy o
f
subsid
iarity
Market economy
X
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Combinations of X- and Y-matrices
Russia, China, and North American most of Asian and countries and most of Latin American countries European countries
Y
XY
X
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X- and Y-institutions in politics and their functions
Functions of institutions X-institutions Y-institutions
1.Territorial administrative organization of the state
Administrative division (unitarity)
Federative structure (federation)
2. Governance system (flow of decision making)
Vertical hierarchical authority with Centre on
the top
Self-government and subsidiarity
3.Type of interaction in the order of decision making
General assembly and unanimity
Multi-party system and democratic majority
4. Filling of governing positions
Appointment Election
5. Feed-back mechanism Appeals to higher levels of hierarchical authority
Law suits
Conclusion “Civil society” remains an ideologem rather than a
rigorous scientific concept. A critical interpretation of civil society discourse needs
placing it in the context of contingent policy regimes defined by institutional factors.
A version of civil society discourse contextualized in the Russian transitional society calls for interpreting it not as an opponent of the state but as a part of the state with main objective to promote the social integration.
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