Confronting the State, Engaging the State

Author(s): Julie Ferguson
Publication date: Thursday 20 January 2005

Seminar, 10 -11 May 2005, The Hague, The Netherlands 

Hivos and ISS will host a seminar around the topic of building civil society under adverse political conditions. The seminar will focus on the relation between civil society and the state.

Although the role of the nation state in many instances seems to be diminishing by ongoing globalization processes, the state is still a crucial actor for the reduction of poverty and inequality. Many civil society organizations consider the core of their work as influencing governmental policies, in order to enhance democratic governance and press for a more just distribution of resources, services, opportunities, etc. However, where the state is weak, politically unstable or oppressive, as in many developing countries, such civil society efforts often have very limited effects or are even completely neutralized. In cases of weak states, civil society sometimes marginalizes the state even further (with help of donor funding) by taking over state responsibilities, for example in service delivery.

The other side of the coin is, that experience – supported by recent research – indicates that civil society flourishes where democracy is strong. [1] A strong and responsive state is generally more conducive to the emergence of a strong civil society than a state characterized by conflicts, corruption and/or a lack of democratic governance.

The seminar aims to explore the strategies that civil society organizations in various political contexts use with the aim of influencing and strengthening the performance and responsiveness of the state. We will analyze cases from different situations of adverse political conditions, such as post-conflict, transitional and oppressive states as well as situations where the state is weak because of corruption, debts, lack of capacity, etc. Strategies ranging from contestation and confrontation to co-operation with the state will be questioned and analyzed on effectiveness and on their consequences for position, identity and legitimacy of civil society (organizations). What works under which conditions, what new and creative arrangements have been recently explored, what are the opportunities and which risks do they entail? Can we find common processes in countries from different regions? What variables seem to be of influence under similar conditions? And how can outside organizations such as Hivos improve their support to civil society organizations in engaging the state?

Hivos and its partners have ample experience working towards increasing citizen participation. Diverse activities aimed at improving government responsiveness to civil society employ all kinds of strategies in combating corruption, enhancing accountability and transparency of government, etc. By analyzing a number of case studies coming directly from CSO practice, and exploring outcomes of research in this field, we aim to generate lessons for civil society building efforts under adverse political conditions and identify what different stakeholders can contribute to this process.

[ 1]See for example www.civilsocietybuilding.net/sogge