Engaging Civil Society: Emerging Trends in Democratic Governance

                  This post is a summary of the book with the title above published at   https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Engaging-Civil-Society%3A-Emerging-Trends-in-Cheema-Popovski/54e99f7abc379218080a1d256c17ae88a4982850

                 Scholars and development practitioners recognize the centrality of governance capacity to achieve sustainable development, including the irradication of extreme poverty, environmental protection, access to basic services and livelihoods and the promotion of economic growth. Consequently, many developing countrieshave aimed to improve governance systems and processes to promote sustainable development. In developing countries, many factors can constrain governance capacity to formulate and implement development policies: elections are not always free, fair and regular; parliamentary processes may be dominated by the ruling elite without adequate interface between parliamentarians and constituents; checks and balances between the executive, judiciary and legislative branches may be inadequate; and weak rule of law may discourage foreign and domestic investments. High levels of corruption can further impede trust in goverment and inhibit the latter's capacity to bring about change. Other challenges can include weak local governments; a lack of inter-agency coordination where cross-sectoral interventions are needed; the magnitude of deficiencies in basic social services; and low levels of participation and engagement by civil society. The most commonly used definition of civil society is a sector of associations, or "a space between the family and the state where people associate across ties of kinship, aside from the market, and independent of the state." In the field of democracy assistance, the professor of political science at University of Stanford, Larry Diamond, defined civil society as "the realm of organized social life that is voluntary, self-generating, self-supporting, autonomous from the state, and bound by a legal order or set shared rules. It is distinct from society in general in that it involves citizens acting collectively in a public sphere to mutual goals, make demands on the state, and hold state officials accountable." The increasing impact of civil society on the governance of global institutions can be partly attribute to the deficiencies of democracy today, especially in developing countries. Several factors have created a vacuum: low levels of citizen participation, inadequate representation and weak mechanisms for accountability. Civil society organizations (CSO) provide information and structure for citizens to become further engaged in governance. For such purposes, CSOs have evolved to work transnationally and focus on specific issues. Often the reform agendas of donor countries and global CSOs are complementary. Both focus on promoting transparency and simplification of processes of global governance. In recent years CSOs have expanded in terms of their role, number, size, activities, areas and influence. The current and upcoming challenges for their continuing contributions to effective democratic governance are: the need for vertical and horizontal coordination; the need to improve legitimacy; trends towards improved organizational accountability; and need for capacity development. The role of CSOs at the global level has changed and are now vital actors in global governance, which includes normative intergovernmental processes that deal with issues of development, security, human rights and disarmament. Global CSOs now play a key role in the definition and establishment of international norms and standards, that are mutually agreed upon by members of international organizations, and then communicated to the national levels, where CSOs can advocate , pressuring governments to improve service delivery and access, as well as monitoring and assessing government policies and practices. CSOs also promote democratic governance by increasing the transparency of actions, promoting anti-corruption and accountability initiatives. Through these roles, CSOs have become increasingly influential in determining the global discourse. They now generate and disseminate data, provide their analysis and allow for a greater heterogeneity of viewpoints to debates. This awareness and coordination must take place both vertically and horizontally in order for CSOs to be most effective in fulfilling their stated policy objectives. Forging mutually reinforcing alliances and partnerships between global and national CSOs has strengthened CSOs engagement. Global civil society has been instrumental in global advocacy of developemnt, security and human rights issues and in increasing funding sources and flows outside government control. Civil society have been playing a vital role in providing an alternative channel of information to citizens and improving access to services. In coming years, a key obstacle to be overcome by CSOs concerns the issue of their legitimacy. As these organizations come to play an increasingly significant role in policy implementation and assessment, the question of their legitimate moral authority will come into play. This book acknowledges an increasing trend towards reinforcing the legitimacy of CSOs through strategies that improve their transparency, accountability and credibility to the public. Six types of legitimacy must be addressed: legal, normative, political, technical, associational and cognitive. Different approaches have been tried to strengthen this legitimacy: transparency mechanisms, annual reports, audited accounts, reporting and disclosure systems, participation mechanisms, evaluation mechanisms, and complaint and redress mechanisms. In conclusion, civil society is now playing a vital role in stimulating democratic change in many ways: direct involvement at different stages of the electoral process, including voter education and electoral monitoring; engagement with parliamentarians to communicate concerns of citizens; the provision of paralegal aid and other support mechanisms for access to justice; access to media to highlight abuses of power; the protection of rights; supporting the independence of the judiciary; and holding officials accountable to improve access to services. However, in order to ensure that they remain effective advocates of the public good, they must strengthen their linkages with other organizations, address issues related to their legitimacy, strengthen accountability and improve capacities.