Building Sustainable Communities

Civil Society Response in South Asia

Md. Nurul Momen, Rajendra Baikady, Cheng Sheng Li, M. Basavaraj, Md. Nurul Momen, Rajendra Baikady, Cheng Sheng Li, M. Basavaraj, Nurul Momen Md.

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9789811523922
• eBook ISBN:
  9789811523939
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Nonprofit Organizations & Charities
• Index: Economics

The book aims to explore South Asian third sector – the nonprofit organizations as provider of social services. The book defines social welfare and describe its relationship to social service programmes and individual well-being; understands the social policy development from the problem identification to policy implementation; describes the range of organization of social service agencies that are responsible for providing social welfare programmes; explores the various roles that professional and non- professional helpers provide in the delivery of social welfare and their influence in promoting change in policy development; and understands the umbrella concept of Child welfare, welfare of people with disability and elderly welfare in welfare policy.

© The Author(s) 2020

M. N. Momen et al. (eds.)Building Sustainable Communitieshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2393-9_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction: Civil Society in the Era of Globalization—Emerging Concerns as a Social Welfare Provider

Md. Nurul Momen¹ , Rajendra Baikady^{2, 3}, Cheng Sheng-Li⁴ and M. Basavaraj⁵

(1)

Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh

(2)

Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

(3)

Department of Social Work, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

(4)

Department of Social Work, Shandong University, Shandong, China

(5)

Department of Economic Studies and Planning, Central University of Karnataka, Kadaganchi, India

End Abstract

In view of the growing interest among the academia, government, international organizations, and media in the present globalized society, with chapters covering Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan, the book makes an attempt to examine and critically analyse the issues with regard to the development and growth of civil society organizations (CSOs) and their contribution to social welfare across South Asian countries. The term “civil society” is the most contested issue, because many different interpretations exist that are not well connected to and/or articulated with the other definitions and concepts. However, there are constant global challenges that hamper the performance of the third sector in the contemporary globalized world. Given the scenario, this book will provide a new opportunity to present the new development and challenges facing civil society organizations in providing social welfare provisions in South Asia. The book also intend to show the nexus between sustainable roles and cope with the challenges for third sector organizations in the many countries in South Asian region. It is worth a mention that nothing much has been written about the contribution of civil society towards the social welfare sector, especially a comparative perspective on CSOs and Social Welfare focusing on South Asian countries. Given the social-political and cultural development of South Asian countries, the role of civil society as a third sector in development has been more interesting and promising in the recent past.

However, to say that this is the time when civil society organizations gained the trust and confidence of the general people. Given the political diversity and complexity in social dynamics, it is interesting to understand and critically analyse the role of civil society in social welfare across South Asia. It is a paradox of the contemporary South Asian politics that most of the states in the region adopted democracy as the form of government, but simultaneously people are losing faith in political parties, which decreases trust in elected officials and politicians. Growing political apathy, declining membership in political parties, and low voter turnout in many recent parliamentary elections indicate the lack of trust among the masses in political regimes.

Historical Development of Civil Society

CSOs are the collective action of several individuals who work outside the state for the development and growth of the society. The primary aim of CSOs is to ensure the betterment and upliftment of society through organized work. However, to date there is no single agreed meaning of the concept (Munene and Thakhathi Munene and Reckson Thakhathi 2017). The concept of civil society goes back to many centuries in Western thinking, with its roots in Ancient Greece (Carothers 1999). While references to “civil society” go back to the sixteenth century, talks of “global civil society” emerged only in the 1990s (Cf. R. A.Falk 1992; Lipschutz 1992; Shaw 1994; Drainville 1998). With state provision of social security going down, active development of civic activities by these civil society organizations rose in the 1980s and 1990s (Cf. G. Esping-Andersen 1996). This time public sector provisions for social security was inadequate, and as a result non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and organizations working at the grassroot stepped into social welfare activities with limited private donations and voluntary assistance. According to the Union of International Associations, in 1998, there were about 16,500 active civic bodies whose members are spread across several countries (Union of International Associations 1998).

Against this backdrop, the origin of the concept of civil society can be traced back to Greek political philosophy, where Aristotle talked about politike koinona (political community/society) to refer to a rule-governed society in which the ruler puts the public good before his private interest. However, with the rise to prominence of the theories of individual rights and the idea of a social contrast during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the concept of civil society took a rebirth. Interestingly, the assumption of human equality, drawn from Christianity, was newly added to the modern use of the term civil society. To explain the phenomenon more precisely, Mary Kalador (2003) noted,

At that time the civil society and state was not differentiated, both were more or less the same. More interestingly civil society was contrasted only with other kinds of societies and not with the state. More particularly during this time a civil society was a peaceful society, a society in which people treated strangers with civility, in contrast to other violent and ‘rude’ societies.

It has been observed that since the end of the Cold War there has been confusion among policymakers, activists, and researchers from various parts of the world about the global relevance of civil society in strengthening development and democracy. Later on, in the eighteenth century, influenced by political theorists from Thomas Paine to George Hegel, the idea of modern civil society emerged. Both these philosophers developed the notion of civil society as a domain parallel to but separate from the states (Carothers, 1999). In the 1990s, a trend towards democracy opened up all over the globe that brought a new interest in the activities of civil society. This trend was important in covering the increasing gaps in social service provisions introduced by structural adjustment and other reforms in developing countries. In the second half of the eighteenth century, Adam Smith (1723–1790), John Lock (1635–1704), Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), Karl Marks (1818–1883), and Hegel (1770–1831) contributed notably to the theoretical development of civil society and recognized the civil body as an independent sphere from the government. In the early twentieth century, civil society emerged as a reaction against “totalitarianism,” especially socialist totalitarian regimes. However, it is worth mentioning that the last few decades have witnessed the tremendous growth of civil society organizations such as NGOs and labour unions. Perhaps the introduction of globalization and rapid changes in social, economic, and environmental aspects had contributed to the accelerated growth of civil society organizations all over the globe.

On a particular note, the idea of civil society is rooted in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European thinking. J. Arato and J.C. Alexander (2001) argue that the incidents that were taking place in the society guided men to have an “ought to be” model of society and influenced people to unite in the form of civil society organizations. Furthermore, the civil society debates and discussions are not only conceived by the political and social scientists, but also it is a current issue about establishing a idealized society by general public. However, Michael Edwards (2009) noted the importance of examining the concept of civil society in terms of both theory and practice. His argument for re-examining the civil society concept was to understand the question “Is civil society the big idea for the twenty first century or will the idea of civil society confused, corrupted or captured by elites prove another false horizon in the search for a better world?” According to him, recognizing civil society as a contested territory in both theory and reality is the first step towards rescuing a potentially powerful set of ideas from conceptual confusion that threatens to submerge that realistic idea. In the contemporary globalized world, civil society is gaining its importance in most countries irrespective of the political regime and type of administration. Rosa Sánchez Salgado (2007) stated that civil society in Europe tend to gain most importance in the political and academic discourse. The European politics and academia perceive participation in the policy process as a means of improving European governance and connecting people to European policies (Rosa Sánchez Salgado 2007).

Civil Society in the Globalization Era and Social Welfare

Today’s society is globalized and interconnected between the nations and within the nations. The developing countries, especially in South Asia, face a number of challenges in ensuring health, education, and other basic needs to their citizens. Distracted economic development, social transformation, labour migration, social delinquency, unorganized sector, crime, poverty, intolerance, and reduced harmonious relationships among the nations are the extended contributions of globalization in developing countries. The civil society organizations in many developing countries are working together between the state and the society to ensure social welfare provisions for citizens. In other words, the civil society intervenes where the state neglects its investment on Social Welfare provisions. The CSOs in India had made a remarkable contribution to the overall development of the society and the upliftment of the marginalized sections of the society prior to economic liberalization. Perhaps this stands true for many other developing South Asian countries. CSOs contribute essentially to the welfare of states and society. In Europe, civil society plays a key role in social service delivery to the people, fulfilling a large variety of functions along with social services delivery. They become voice to the voiceless people by giving them an opportunity to explore the unaddressed issues, offering alternative ways of occupational socialization, or facilitating social inclusion (cf. Kramer 1981; Rose-Ackerman and James 1986; Kendall 2003).

The socio-economic condition of many countries, especially the developing world, has been influenced by the process of globalization for over two decades. On the one hand, globalization has benefited many countries with opportunities such as trade liberalization, a global market for products, foreign direct investment, liberalization, privatization, and information flow. It has also encouraged capital and technological transfer among the countries. On the other hand, globalization through material deprivation and the relative marginalization has also affected the development and growth of the countries which are unable to compete with the developed economies of the world. Thus, globalization has become one of the reasons for regional imbalance across the globe. The countries or regions with well-occupied resources are actually challenging and competing with countries ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction: Civil Society in the Era of Globalization—Emerging Concerns as a Social Welfare Provider
• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Part IV
• Part V
• Part VI
• Part VII
• Back Matter