{"id":6061,"date":"2020-02-01T12:07:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T06:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=6061"},"modified":"2020-02-01T12:07:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T06:37:00","slug":"role-of-civil-society-in-a-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/role-of-civil-society-in-a-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Role of civil society in a democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Relevance: Mains: G.S paper II: Governance: Pressure groups: Role of Civil Society<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Context:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We the people of India, will not tolerate the fusion of religious identity and citizenship, will not sanction dilution of secularism and equality, will not accept irresponsible amendments to the Constitution, and will not endure vicious attempts to divide us.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Civil society:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The concept of civil society is normative, insofar as it specifies that associational life in a metaphorical space between the market based on profit, and the state that embodies power, is a distinct good.<br \/>\n\u2022 Associational life neutralises the individualism, the atomism, and the anomie of modern life. Social associations enable the pursuit of multiple projects and engender solidarity.<br \/>\n\u2022 The projects can range from developing awareness about climate change, to discussing and dissecting popular culture, supporting needy children, organising neighbourhood activities, and safeguarding human rights.<br \/>\n\u2022 Above all, the concept recognises that even democratic states are imperfect. Democracy has to be realised through sustained engagement with the holders of power.<br \/>\n\u2022 Citizen activism, public vigilance, informed public opinion, a free media, and a multiplicity of social associations are indispensable for this task.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Objective of civil society:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The minimal avatar of civil society \u2014 that of mobilisation against authoritarian regimes \u2014 that has proved politically effective since the last decades of the 20th century.<br \/>\n\u2022 This concept has motivated thousands of people across the globe to stand up and speak back to a history, not of their making.<br \/>\n\u2022 The objective of civil society is not to takeover the state. That is left to political parties.<br \/>\n\u2022 Vibrant civil societies are born out of complete disenchantment with the party system. They are, and remain, the public conscience of society.<br \/>\n\u2022 The powerful states have collapsed like the proverbial house of cards before street assemblies and demonstrations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Way ahead:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We do not need to worry about who should lead civil society mobilisation in India. Nor should we worry about where it is heading.<br \/>\n\u2022 It is enough that citizens have gathered in public spaces to fight a government increasingly seen as authoritarian and divisive. Moreover, civil societies eschew organisation, leadership and goals.<br \/>\n\u2022 Organisation leads to bureaucratisation, leaders rapidly become tyrants, and no one agent is capable of defining what the goals of a complex society should be.<br \/>\n\u2022 The task of civil society is not to wage a revolutionary war. Its task is to awaken people to the fact that they have a right to hold governments responsible for acts of omission and commission.<br \/>\n\u2022 When it takes on authoritarian states, the strength of civil society is its spontaneity and collective mobilisation. Its weapon is the Constitution; its demand is respect for constitutional morality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Civil society is not an institution; it is a space, the site for many projects that restore democracy. This is India\u2019s civil society moment. It needs to be celebrated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relevance: Mains: G.S paper II: Governance: Pressure groups: Role of Civil Society Context: We the people of India, will not<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[392],"class_list":["post-6061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-studies-ii","tag-union-public-service-commission-upsc"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6062,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6061\/revisions\/6062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}