Essay on Civil Society And Public Service Text

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The debate over globalization has focused to a considerable degree on political and economic forces, on the activities of governments and businesses and the dynamics of states and markets. What tends to be overlooked in these discussions is the role of civil society or the third sector in shaping local, national and, indeed, global affairs. Civil society can be described as the networks of citizens and non governmental organizations that create a political community that realm of society that exists outside the direct influence of the marketplace or the state.

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In a seminal essay in dissent magazine spring 1991 , michael walzer defined civil society as a space of uncoerced human association and. The set of relational networks formed for the sake of family, faith, interest, and ideology that fill this space. Civil society plays an increasingly pivotal role in shaping the post cold war world.

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It had a central part in the shift from communism to western style democracy in the former soviet world, for example, and it is having a growing impact on global movements like the rise of environmentalism, the push for human rights, and the backlash against economic globalization. In the following article, i survey three articles that address the vital role of civil society in shaping global affairs today. In the first, political philosopher benjamin barber examines the impact of global citizen movements, arguing that a new form of borderless activism is emerging today under the banner of transnational non governmental organizations. In the second, economist hazel henderson maintains that international citizen movements represent one of the most powerful and undervalued forces for social innovation today. Finally, in an essay adapted from a public speech in 1992, vaclav havel makes an eloquent case for what he sees as a new civil ethic emerging in the post communist era.

Each of these articles speaks to the profound and growing importance of citizen movements in creating a more peaceful and sustainable world in the 21st century. In globalizing democracy, benjamin barber argues that the debate over globalization has paid insufficient attention to the role of citizen led groups. We are entering a new era, he writes, in which global markets and servile governments will no longer be completely alone in planning the world's fate. He cites numerous examples in which citizens have reshaped public debate worldwide, including the campaign against land mines, efforts to protect dolphins from the tuna industry, and the microcredit movement in which small loans are made to women in developing countries to help them start businesses. According to barber, these sorts of movements are having a tremendous positive impact and deserve greater international attention and support. Not only do they promise a measure of countervailing power in the international arena as a bulwark against reactionary movements, such as the ultra right wing politics of pat buchanan or france's jean marie le pen, but they also embody a sort of global public opinion. In barber's words, they put flesh on the bare bones of legalistic doctrines and universal rights.

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These new transnational civic spaces offer possibilities for transnational citizenship and hence an anchor for global rights. While barber is generally optimistic about the growing influence of these civic movements, he cautions against overstating their importance. These transnational civic projects should not fool us into thinking that amnesty international or medecins sans frontieres doctors without borders are the equivalent in clout of aol time warner or the international monetary fund. This is a powerful argument and one which i believe deserves greater attention, especially as a counterweight to thomas friedman, samuel huntington, francis fukuyama and other high profile observers of globalization who have little, if anything, to say about the role of citizens in shaping a new borderless world for the twenty first century.

As a maverick economist and respected futurist, hazel henderson has been making this case for over a decade. In social innovation and citizen movements, she examines the growing international significance of the voluntary, civic, or third sector comprising various types of innovative citizens organizations. Ngos range from local service clubs, chambers of commerce, and professional associations, to international human rights organizations and global electronic networks. The rise of these types of organizations is one of the most striking phenomena of the 20th century, she asserts. One of the most distinctive features of ngos, in henderson's view, is that they are oriented toward preferred futures and invoke the possible by mapping social potentials. By contrast, corporations and government sponsored institutions are usually developed to meet preestablished social needs. In this way, ngos often serve as precursors to national and international governmental institutions by prodding legislators to respond to pressures at the grass roots level.

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