1 “CIVIL SOCIETY “ IN TURBULENT TIMES: RUSSIAN CASE Svetlana Kirdina Institute of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.

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““CIVIL SOCIETY “ CIVIL SOCIETY “ IN TURBULENT TIMES: IN TURBULENT TIMES: RUSSIAN CASERUSSIAN CASE

Svetlana KirdinaInstitute of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences,Moscow, Russia

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OutlineOutline “Civil society” = an Ideologem? “Civil society” and a state:

opponents or partners? “Civil society” in Russia: theory

and empirical data

The importance of terms’ meaning

Once disciple of Confucius asked his Teacher (488 BC): “New governor is going to involve you in the state administration. Where do you start?”. Confucius replied: "First we need to refine the names that do not correspond to the essence ... If the words are unfavorable, the case will not be going well ... (Lun Yu, XIII, p. 8)

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“Civil society” in different ideological contexts (examples) The New Left: civil society has a key role in

defending people against the capitalist state and the market and in asserting the collective will to influence the state;

Neo-liberals: civil society needs the market and is created for the satisfaction of individual interests and private property in accordance with liberal values. .[

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“Civil society” as “liberal” Ideologem

CSI (Civil Society Index): 2 of 4 parameters characterize the basic freedoms and values;

CSSI (Civil Society Strength Index): 1 of 2 groups of parameters is named as Civil Society values factor;

GCSI (Global Civil Society Index): 2 of 5 parameters reflect the distribution of tolerance values.

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Civil society and a state Civil society is the state (since Thomas

Hobbes, John Locke) Civil society is an opponent of the state, or

“political superstructure” (since the Great Scots David Hume, Adam Smith, Patrick Ferguson)

Civil society is a complement rather than an alternative to the state , “the state is seen as a precondition of civil society” (Whaites, 1996; Zaleski, 2006)

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Civil society and a state (Russian version)

Civil society is a part of the state. Its main objective is to promote the social integration through:

o Legitimization of state power;o Public control of state decisions;o Participation in the process of state decision making.

(Russian school of constitutional economics, Russian civil and public law studies).

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December 2004

December 2005

December 2006

December 2009

The strengthening of“the vertical of power”

31 31 29 31

The strengthening of civil rights and freedoms,

civil society42 38 42 48

Neither one nor the other

13 14 11 8

Don’t know 14 17 18 12

Table 1. In your opinion, what could promote the welfare of Russia, %?

(Levada-Center. Press release 21.01.2010. What is democracy and whether it is necessary in Russia?)

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June 2008 June 2010on the private initiative of citizens, “bottom-up”, independently of the

government or other political forces14 13

initiated by the authorities 32 30

initiated by opposition political forces 21 22initiated by external forces interested

in a particular way of Russia's development 11 13

Don’t know 22 22

Table 2. Do you think the majority of public movements and initiatives in modern Russia is emerging…

Levada-Center. Press release 25.06.2010. Problems of social and political participation.

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March 1998

February 2006

February 2010

A unitary centralized statewith the heads of local authorities

appointed by the Center 25 41 46

State with the most extensive rights of local authorities and central government coordinating their

interests

52 39 36

Don’t know 23 20 19

Table 3. What type of state would you like to see to exist in Russia?

Levada-Center. Press release 16.03.2010. State and society interrelations in Russian public opinion.

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November 2001

February 2006

December 2006

December 2007

December 2010

The authorities should take care of

people66 68 74 66 65

People should be able to obtain from

authorities what they need

33 28 21 30 29

Don’t know 3 4 5 4 6

Table 4. In your opinion, on which of the following principles a society, in which you want to live,

should be based?Levada-Center. Press release 14.01.2011. On state and society

interrelations.

Institutional matrices theory (X- and Y-theory) as one of theoretical explanations

Kirdina S. G. Institutional Matrices and Development in Russia (2 edition). Novosibirsk, 2001 (In Russian).

Kirdina S. The Institutional Matrices Theory in the Context of Modern Sociology. /Visions and Divisions: the Russian Outlook The Russian Academy of Sciences - The Russian Society of Sociologists. - Moscow-Helsinki, 2001.

Kirdina S. Fundamental Difference in the Transformation Process between Russia and East European Countries // Berliner Osteuropa Info, № 16/2001.

Kirdina S. Institutional Matrices and Institutional Changes / Economic Transformation and Evolutionary Theory of J. Schumpeter. The 5th International Symposium on Evolutionary Economics, Pushchino, Moscow region, Russia, 2003.

Institutional matrix in sociology / Sociological encyclopedia. Moscow, 2003 (in Russian),

Institutional matrices theory/ Sociological dictionary. Moscow, 2010 (in Russian).

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X- and Y-matrices

XY

Redistributive economy

Com

munit

ari

an

ideolo

gy

Unitary-

centralize

d

political o

rder

Feder

ativ

e p

olit

ical

ord

er

Ideolo

gy o

f

subsid

iarity

Market economy

X

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Combinations of X- and Y-matrices

Russia, China, and North American most of Asian and countries and most of Latin American countries European countries

Y

XY

X

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X- and Y-institutions in politics and their functions

Functions of institutions X-institutions Y-institutions

1.Territorial administrative organization of the state

Administrative division (unitarity)

Federative structure (federation)

2. Governance system (flow of decision making)

Vertical hierarchical authority with Centre on

the top

Self-government and subsidiarity

3.Type of interaction in the order of decision making

General assembly and unanimity

Multi-party system and democratic majority

4. Filling of governing positions

Appointment Election

5. Feed-back mechanism Appeals to higher levels of hierarchical authority

Law suits

Conclusion “Civil society” remains an ideologem rather than a

rigorous scientific concept. A critical interpretation of civil society discourse needs

placing it in the context of contingent policy regimes defined by institutional factors. 

A version of civil society discourse contextualized in the Russian transitional society calls for interpreting it not as an opponent of the state but as a part of the state with main objective to promote the social integration.

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Thank you for your attention!Thank you for your attention!

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