Towards a better polity

Philosophical and intellectual concern for civil society has gravitated in diverse directions since Immanuel Kant wrote about universal civil society in an essay, "The Idea Of History" (1784).

Despite all the positive experiences that came out to build a better world from all the revolutions, the World Wars, the Cold War, civil wars, partitions, ethnic cleansing and their tragic bearings on human life, the task of organising a perfect political society continue to pose a formidable challenge. The recent upsurge of interest in civil society for a creative intervention beyond the limits of a government but within the confines of a society constitute the focus of this book edited by Sudipta Kaviraj and Sunil Khilnani.

The most valuable aspect of the book is that it has sought to dissect the idea of civil society on a global scale by incorporating essays on almost all regions of the world including Latin America, China, West Asia, India, Europe and the South in general. Khilnani, better known as the author of The Idea of India argues for recovering civil society's rich and unshapely forms in history of Western political thinking to grasp the challenges in building and sustaining democracy today.

This idea of civil society, according to him, is hardly self-sufficient in the democratic politics of the South confirming the analysis of other contributors in the book such as Geoffrey Hawthorn, who argues that the potential of the state, and the idea of citizenship, among others, need to be properly understood. Furthermore, Hawthorn warns that, "the thought of an active and independent civil society in this sense is essential to a constitutionally and procedurally acceptable democracy is mistaken." The analyses of both writers only suggest that the formulation of the idea of civil society and its implementation involves intense challenge.

Contingent factors become more evident when one reads through the contributions on other regions. These differences are not only region specific but even country specific. Writing on West Asia, Sami Zubaida evokes the widely known image of authoritarian character of the role of the government in that part of the world. Even in supposedly politically liberal societies like Egypt and Jordan, the vital agencies of civil society such as media and parties are manipulated by the government indicating that the latter could play a malevolent role in the evolution and workings of civil society. In China, on the other hand, a decisive shift from the ideal kung-te (the virtue of people dedicated to public good) to an amoral Western notion of civil society is yet to be noticed.

What has, however, made these concerns for civil society a political reality today is the activities by Western aid agencies, among others. According to Rob Jenkins, these agencies have created new problems which cannot be viewed as healthy trends for democracy and has also contributed to increasing de-politicisation. These aid agencies have created a civil society in their own images.

It is probably not yet clear whether the portrait of civil society that emerges as a kind of a political ombudsman, with values like fair play, impartiality and commitment to public welfare could be uniformly distributed in different regions of the world. It is possible that the region or country specific factors may tinker with these values. Such unintended consequences need to be examined more thoroughly to grasp the challenges of global democracy.

The setting up of an electoral democracy is relatively an easier exercise than a liberal democracy which distinguished political scientist Arend Lijphart justly considers a better form of democracy. But for anyone who is concerned in the consolidation of democracy has to recognise that this enterprise requires multiple forms of civil society. But should these multiple forms of civil society be left to be evolved by themselves or be introduced from outside? If these are to be created by external agencies, how should then the region or country specific aberrations be dealt with?

We need to note that the trajectories of consolidation of liberal democracies could be as varied as the paths of institutionalisation of electoral democracies, which in the end, may add more "adjectives" to democracy. For a thorough grasp of the ways by which civil society should be built, this book is indispensable for activists, scholars, and most importantly, progressive policy makers at all levels. Civil Society: History and Possibilities
Edited by Sudipta Kaviraj and Sunil Khilnani
Cambridge University Press
Pages: 330, Price: $20

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