As citizens, we review our relations with the state every day; on the one hand, we evaluate our own responsibilities and on the other hand, we question our expectations from the state. At this point, “civil society”, “the role of civil society and what it can do” come to the agenda again, especially in events that cause social reaction such as disasters.
The general tendency in Turkey is to perceive civil society as institutions registered with the state that operate for the public or a specific community. Especially during the earthquake of 6 February, the prominence of certain civil society organisations or the mobilisation of support mechanisms by the public free from the state created the belief that there is a strong civil society image. On the other hand, the fact that formations that are not officially recognised as CSOs and not in the definition and registration of the state are not accepted as civil society affects the perception of citizens.
Reducing the concept of civil society, which has been discussed by different thinkers since Ancient Greece, to only aid organisations would lead to a one-dimensional approach to this concept.
Especially when we look at the French and Anglo Saxon approaches after the 16th century and then the Marxist model, it will be relatively easier to deepen the subject. The main perspective here is the French approach, which advocates civil society to be under state control, and the Anglo Saxon approach, which treats the individual and civil society as a force that balances the power of the state. On the other hand, while the Marxist interpretation was thought to have a negative view of civil society because it considered civil society as bourgeois society, we see that this view began to change at the end of the 19th century.
Going back to Ancient Greece, when political and governance structures were not as complicated as they are today and individuals who were considered free participated directly in democracy, Aristotle defines civil society as a society that is protected independently of individual interests and governed in accordance with rules that aim to ensure the public good.[1]
On the other hand, it is not surprising that a civil space could not be formed against the absolute power of the church and the king in the process extending from medieval feudalism to modernity. With modernity, the state-civil society parallelism has been replaced by the state-civil society opposition. The definition of “opposition” here is not always considered as the antithesis of the state, but also as a preventive factor against the transformation of the absolute power of the state into a despotic structure.
With liberalism, we can say that market economy, individual freedoms, the rule of law and today, with globalisation, the structure of civil society has strengthened.
It is envisaged that civil society exists as a separate organisation that defends individual freedoms in harmony with the state structure but has principles outside the state. Of course, we should add that a free civil initiative can be formed in a democratic environment and mutually support their development. While civil society will flourish more easily in a democratic environment, in order to strengthen democracy, there must be a grassroots movement and political cadres must be able to recognise the power of civil society.
Even if we confine civil society to the framework of “organisations” as perceived in Turkey, it should not be forgotten that it can reach a power that controls the power of the state. However, it is certainly not enough just to donate or help in a particular social event. According to a 2016 study, 15.8% of people in Turkey participate in CSO activities, while only 6% are members of CSOs.[2] It can be said that there are sociological, historical and especially post-12 September period effects on such low participation, but for the development of civil society, which has an inevitable place in the democratic transformation of society, it is necessary to take initiative individually from a “fatalistic” world perception and to become aware of the power of organisation.
[1] Aslan, S. 2010, Civil Society: Conceptual Change and Transformation, Electronic Journal of Social Sciences, Issue 33.
[2] Çarkoğlu, A., & Aytaç, S.E. (2016). Individual giving and philanthropy in Turkey. Istanbul: TÜSEV Publications.
