📚 Week 4: Civil Society & Democracy in Pakistan

This week covers what civil society is, the meaning of democracy, and how civil society has
contributed to democratic transitions in Pakistan.

🔑 Introduction to Civil Society

• Civil society plays an undeniable role in modern country development.
• In democratic arenas, it compels undemocratic elements to follow democratic culture.
• It watches over the activities of legislature, executive, and judiciary.
• It criticizes any government organ that misuses power or violates the constitution.
• The concept became prominent during transitions from authoritarianism in Eastern
Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa.

📖 Defining Civil Society

Civil society is difficult to define because it is complex and multifaceted. Different scholars
define it differently based on historical context.

General Consensus Definition: Civil society is the sum of institutions, organizations, and
individuals located BETWEEN the family, the state, and the market, where people voluntarily
associate to advance common interests.

Famous Views on Civil Society:

Ernest Gellner — Institutions strong enough to counterbalance the state without preventing the
state from keeping peace.
Jurgen Habermas — Spontaneously created associations that amplify social problems from
private life into the public/political sphere.
Dahrendorf — Rooted in classical liberal tradition; autonomous organizations neither run nor
directed by the state.
Potter Stewart (US Supreme Court) — Could not define it but said 'I know it when I see it' —
showing how complex the concept is.

Core Components of Civil Society

Three Main Components (Salamon calls this the 'Third Sector'):
• Structural patterns regulating specific tasks — e.g., democracy, legal system,
citizenship, family, media: Institutions
• Voluntary associations, non-profits, NGOs, social movements, networks:
Organizations
• Citizens who participate through membership, volunteering, organizing,
expressing values: Individuals
Three Primary Characteristics:
• It operates under rule of law, not the state of nature.
• It lies between the state and the market, contesting both while being influenced by both.
• It is dominated by voluntary associative relations — maintaining pluralism and free public
debate.

❌ What Civil Society Does NOT Include

• It is NOT synonymous with 'society' — it is only PART of society
• NOT identical to the non-profit/third sector (though they overlap heavily)
• Does NOT include the market and market firms
• Does NOT include the state and public agencies
• Does NOT include the family as an organizational unit (households, dynasties)

📅 Origin and History of Civil Society

• Intellectual product of 18th-century Europe when citizens sought independence from the
aristocratic state
• Adam Smith: Private trade creates trust and social capital (invisible connections)
• John Locke & Alexis de Tocqueville: Emphasized democratic associations in political
terms
• Friedrich Hegel: State needs to regulate society; tense interdependence between the
two
• Montesquieu & von Stein: Rule of law is essence of state-society relations
• 20th Century: Linked to civility (Verba), public sphere (Habermas), social capital
(Putnam), culture (Gramsci), community (Etzioni)

📊 The 9 Measurable Characteristics of Civil Society

Characteristic Simple Meaning
1. The Commons Citizens share access to resources and strengthen social networks
2. Office Citizens exercise self-governance by holding public leadership positions
3. Associations Citizens voluntarily gather in diverse groups for self-governance and exchanging
ideas
4. Trusteeship Citizens hold decision-making power for transparent, sustainable stewardship
5. Sovereignty Citizens possess authority to make decisions without public institutions being
captured
6. Accountability Citizens use civic freedoms (elections, free speech, free press) to hold power
accountable
7. Equity Equitable access to resources for all, especially the poor
8. Justice Citizens pursue social justice via rule of law (based on citizenship, not birth
status)
 9. Reciprocity Citizens pursue transformation through collaboration and resolve conflicts
peacefully

Defining DEMOCRACY
DEMO (people) + CRACY (power) = Government by the people.

Webster Dictionary — Supreme power vested in the people and exercised directly or indirectly
through free elections.
Abraham Lincoln — 'Government of the people, by the people, for the people.'
Winston Churchill — 'Democracy is not perfect, but it is the least worst form of government.'

Key Elements of Democracy

• Guarantee of basic human rights
• Separation of Powers: Legislature, Executive, Judiciary
• Freedom of opinion, speech, press, and media
• Religious liberty
• General and equal voting rights (one person, one vote)
• Good governance: public interest over corruption

📜 Brief History of Democracy

Period Key Development
Ancient Greece & Rome Direct democracy via assemblies; BUT slaves and women had no
rights
Religious/Philosophical Roman Stoic philosophy + Judeo-Christian religions introduced human
equality before God
Middle Ages Democratic traditions kept alive in free cities of Italy, Germany,
Flanders
Renaissance & Reformation Humanism and struggle for religious freedom defined equal rights
1642 England Rebellion against monarchy; King Charles I executed; modern
democracy begins
French Philosophers Montesquieu, Rousseau; US: Jefferson, Madison shaped modern
democracy
19th-20th Century Western monarchies adopted constitutions limiting Crown's power

🇵🇰 Civil Society & Democratic Transition in Pakistan

Key Distinction:
Democratic Civil Society — Functions non-violently within the law to make the state
accountable
Non-Democratic Civil Society — Uses violence to capture the state

Role of Civil Society in Pakistan:

• Traditional focus: human rights, minorities, women, rural development
• New focus: rule of law and representative democracy
• Traditional groups (student/labor unions) have declined in power

The Lawyers' Movement:

• Sparked by Gen. Musharraf's action against the Chief Justice of Pakistan
• Strong but needed support from other civil society groups, opposition parties, students,
labor, and intellectuals
• Successfully restored deposed Supreme Court judges — securing an independent
judiciary

Political Parties' Limitations:

• Main opposition parties are elite groups with shallow societal roots and no internal
democracy
• Religious parties can mobilize streets but are not inclusive enough
• Elite coalitions regularly cooperate with the military — pattern since Ayub Khan (1958)

🏆 Historic Achievements of Civil Society in Pakistan

• Compelled ruling class to enact the Objectives Resolution (1949) and Pakistan's first
constitution (1956)
• Forced General Ayub Khan to resign through open protests over sugar prices and
student union demands
• Transformed Z.A. Bhutto into a public leader, supporting his democratic ideas
• Created political alliances to pressure General Zia-ul-Haq's rule
• Severely criticized Gen. Musharraf's 'so-called referendum' and compelled him to resign
• The Lawyers' Movement restored deposed Supreme Court judges — a vital prerequisite
for true democracy

📝 Quick Exam Tips

Civil society = between family, state, and market. It is voluntary, operates under rule of law, and
maintains pluralism. Democracy = Lincoln's definition (of, by, for the people) is the most famous.
The 3 key components of civil society are institutions, organizations, and individuals. In
Pakistan, civil society's biggest achievement was the Lawyers' Movement restoring the Chief
Justice.