Civil Society's Role in Strengthening Democracy: A Report

This report delves into the critical role of civil society in upholding and advancing democratic principles, focusing particularly on the Australian context. It argues that civil society, encompassing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and various institutions, serves as a vital force for democracy by promoting public good, fostering public education, and ensuring transparency and accountability in governmental processes. The report examines the historical origins of civil society, tracing its evolution from the age of enlightenment to its modern-day significance. It highlights the contributions of civil society in promoting public participation, addressing social issues such as poverty and human rights abuses, and advocating for effective governance. The report also discusses the mechanisms through which civil societies exert influence, including communication programs, lobbying efforts, and the promotion of ethical values. Ultimately, the report concludes that civil societies are indispensable for strengthening democratic ideals and practices, advocating for public welfare, and facilitating the involvement of citizens in shaping their societies.

Running head: DEMOCRACY IN RETREAT
Civil Society
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................6
Reference:..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The report is based on the civil society and the main objective of the report is to
establish the fact that civil society is a force for democracy. The civil society is comprising of
certain non-governmental organisation and manifested for the interest of the citizen (Marsal-
Llacuna 2016 page 1200). The essay argues that whether the civil society ensures the force of
democracy or not. It is to be noted that the civil societies are different from the government or
the business organisations. According to the Collin’s English Dictionary, an independent
judiciary is also a part of the civil society. It has been stated by Robert D. Putman that all the
non-political organisations are falling within the purview of civil society. It has been
observed from the nature and the object of the civil society that the main aim of civil society
is to protect the interest of the public and facilitate the process of democracy within the state.
The main intention of the civil society is a controversial matter. According to many of the
political researchers and the philosopher, civil society is established to confer democratic
criteria on the society. It has been stated by many researchers that “Civil society is
demographically limited”. Gabriel Almond was opted for the democratic character of the
civil society and according to their notion; political elements have helped to secure the
democratic interest (Armillei and Mansouri 2017 page 13).
Discussion:
Civil society has derived its origin from the age of enlightenment. The Eighteenth
century is known as the age of enlightenment as many changes have been observed in this era
(Harris-Hogan 2017 page 1). Civil society was circled with political thought. In the earlier
period, civil society was the epicentre for political thoughts. Socrates enlightened the chapter
of political wisdom and Aristotle addressed the civil society as political community (Dinneen
2017 page 187 and 188).

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The subject matter of the case is to discuss the democratic character of the civil
society. Alexis de Tocqueville input the democratic object of the civil society for the first
time and it has been stated by him that the main objective of the civil society is to establish a
democratic political society (Rawls 2013 page 245). The mechanism that has been followed
in the civil society is different in nature and the voting system and political citizenry of civil
society ensures the possibility of democracy. Robert Putnam has arguably conceptualised the
democratic character of civil society (Lewis, MacGregor and Putnam 2013 page 335).
In almost every society, a democratic establishment is expected. It is an established
fact that the civil societies are working to promote the public good and there is a sharp
distinction present in the case of governmental organisation and the civil societies (Jessop
2016 page 71). The democratic nature of the civil society can be seen in Australia and there
are certain organisations that working to support the ethics of democracy through their work.
The institutions are Australian Conservation Foundation and Australian Council of Social
Service. These institutions are working for the interest of the public welfare and it has been
observed that the local bodies are also performing their works for the promotion of the
society. However, it has been argued not every civil society has similar democratic feature. It
has been observed from the Australian civil societies that they are playing certain important
role in the public policies and they are responsible for the effectiveness regarding the
governance (Wapner and Kantel 2017 page 175).
The civil societies are concentrated on the public education at large and it has been
observed that the communication programs are very much affected by the social events of the
civil society. The society is based on the civics and therefore, the primary object of the civil
societies is to promote the term civil or the public at large. On the other hand, the main
criteria of democracy are to work on behalf of the public (Munck 2016 page 11). Therefore, it
can be said that the primary object of the civil society is to promote the idea of democracy

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because as per their concept a society cannot be developed until the citizens are not
benefitted.
The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are considered as the portents of the
democracy and it has been observed that they are involved in various societal changes. It is to
be understood that in Australia, democracy means more than the voting facilities. The
policies regarding the voting system have been adopted to regularise the voting criteria.
According to Marian Sawer, democracy should be participatory and deliberative. It is a fact
that if the public at large will not participated in the electorate system, there could not be any
democracy and regarding the establishment of the same, public education needed to be strong
and the civil societies are performing the same. it has been observed from a report in 2003
that the non-political Australians are participating in the programs of the civil societies. As
per the information showed by Sawer the member of the civil societies are huge in number
from the members of the political institutions. This is a clear indication towards the concept
that the Australians are for the establishing democracy and for attaining the purpose; they are
adopting the concept of the civil society (Grace and Sawer 2016 page 745 to 747).
The main object of democratic society is that there should be transparency and
accountability in case of governmental process for the interest of the public at large and civil
societies are playing an important role to achieve the same. In Australia, there are several
organisations that are facilitated the democratic auditory system such as Accountability
Round table, new democracy and public interest Advocacy centre. They are engaging
themselves to create pressure on the governments so that they can work for the interest of the
public and the concept of democracy can be retained (Wapner and Kantel 2017 page 175).
The word democracy is not depending on the voting system only and it is required for
the conception to reduce the effect of the poverty, disease and human right abuses and

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eradicate all these from the roots of the society (Brett 2017 page 2 to 6). The Australian
Council for International Development has concentrated on these sectors and committed them
to make a change regarding the same and engrave the notion of democracy in the society of
Australia. Besides this, the millennium goal plan of the United Nations are also to be
maintained by these civil societies and the Australian government is playing a promising role
regarding the same by investing money in these programs.
The Edelman has generated a report in the year 2005 regarding the implications of
the civil societies regarding democracy and it has been proved that these NGOs are become
trustworthy for the Australian government for the promotions of the democratic conceptions
and objectives. These organisations are one of the main sources for the creative policies of
the public policies, they implement policies for the betterment of the society, and it should be
taken into consideration that these bodies are helpful to maintain an effective democracy (Jin,
Drozdenko and DeLoughy 2013 page 19). The House of Representatives of Australia has
confessed the facts that the civil societies are the integrating part of the states and it is helping
all the departments to concentrate on the public arena. It becomes possible to maintain a
relationship in between the government and the civil societies. It has been revealed from the
government report that the civil societies are playing a critical role regarding the
developments of the social policies.
According to 28th Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, a country’s economic
conditions are depending on the strong communities and the environment. The civil societies
are responsible for the same and their role can be taken into consideration in this cases. It has
also been stated by him that a society that has no communicative culture, lacks of democratic
ideas. The ethical values of the democratic organisations are helping to foster the competence
among the individuals and it should be kept in mind that the without a free communication,
there is no possibility of democracy in a state (Li and Skitmore 2013 page 125).

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In Australia, there are more than 600,000 charitable and civil societies established to
diversify the interests and services of the democracy. It is reported that the Australians are
keen to join the civil society to become a part of the wide work and to maintain the
democratic conception within the society. There is an essence of communicative
responsibility among the civil societies are present and it can be stated that this help to make
the process more systematic. In the continents of Britain, it has been observed that the NGOs
are working to promote the civil societies into the quasi-governmental organisations. From
the transformation of the civil society, it has been understood that the objectives of the civil
society has been changed and the primary objective of the same has been changed a lot from
its origin. Now, from the activities of the civil societies, it is clear that the motto is to set out
force for democracy. Many countries are adopting the idea of democratization through these
civil societies. One of the key ingredients of democracy is public participation in all the
sectors of society. It has been an established fact that the public involvement is important to
maintain the framework of the democracy (Clark 2014 page 301). Civil societies are very
much helpful in this regards. These societies are playing the part of the political catalyst and
responsible for the progress of the society.
Conclusion:
Therefore, it has been understood from the above noted facts that the civil societies
are playing an important role regarding the development of the society. It is to be noted that
in many states, the idea of democracy are being maintained by way of establishing NGOs and
civil societies. These societies are regularising the policies to combat the social phenomenon
like disease or the hunger. The civil societies are helpful to establish the concept of good
global citizenship and they are advancing the foreign policies by organising the democratic
ideas. The civil societies are responsible for securing the legal policies regarding the public

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welfare and it is the primary duty of the societies to work for the benefit of the societies. It
has been observed that the civil societies have changed the political satire in the provinces of
Australia and facilitate the process of involvement of the Australians in the civil societies.
The developed countries like the United States or the United Kingdom have promoted the
ideas of democracy regarding the same and it is the primary duty of the civil societies to
retain this for the benefit of the society and for the betterment of democracy (Wapner and
Kantel 2017 page 175). It is obvious to state that the interest of the citizen can better be
understood in democracy and the process has been observed in most of the democratic
societies. it can be concluded with the words of Wapner that civil societies are the best
possible source for democracy.

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Reference:
Armillei, R. and Mansouri, F., 2017. 'Ethnic Democracy'and Authoritarian Legacies in Italy's
and Australia's Contemporary Policies towards' Boat People'. Journal on Ethnopolitics and
Minority Issues in Europe: JEMIE, 16(2), p.13.
Brett, E.A., 2017. Representation and exclusion in partial democracies: the role of civil
society organisations. The Journal of Development Studies, pp.1-6.
Clark, J.D., 2014. Worlds apart: civil society and the battle for ethical globalization.
Routledge, page. 301.
Dinneen, N., 2017. The Socratic Teaching of Constructivism: A Reading of Pangle and
Ahrensdorf's Justice Among Nations: On the Moral Basis of Power and Peace. Perspectives
on Political Science, 46(3), pp.187-198.
Grace, J. and Sawer, M., 2016. Representing Gender Equality: Specialised Parliamentary
Bodies. Parliamentary Affairs, 69(4), pp.745-747.
Harris-Hogan, S., 2017. Violent extremism in Australia: An overview. Trends and Issues in
Crime and Criminal Justice, (491), p.1.
Jessop, B., 2016. 5. State theory. Handbook on Theories of Governance, p.71.
Jin, K.G., Drozdenko, R. and DeLoughy, S., 2013. The role of corporate value clusters in
ethics, social responsibility, and performance: A study of financial professionals and
implications for the financial meltdown. Journal of business ethics, 112(1), pp.19.
Lewis, V.A., MacGregor, C.A. and Putnam, R.D., 2013. Religion, networks, and
neighborliness: The impact of religious social networks on civic engagement. Social Science
Research, 42(2), pp.331-346.

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Li, T.H., Ng, S.T. and Skitmore, M., 2013. Evaluating stakeholder satisfaction during public
participation in major infrastructure and construction projects: A fuzzy approach. Automation
in construction, 29, pp.123-135.
Marsal-Llacuna, M.L., 2016. City indicators on social sustainability as standardization
technologies for smarter (citizen-centered) governance of cities. Social Indicators
Research, 128(3), pp.1200.
Munck, G.L., 2016. What is democracy? A reconceptualization of the quality of
democracy. Democratization, 23(1), pp.11.
Rawls, J., 2013. The justification of civil disobedience. Arguing about law, pp.244-253.
Wapner, P. and Kantel, A.J., 2017. Global civil society. Environmental Governance
Reconsidered: Challenges, Choices, and Opportunities, p.175.
Wapner, P. and Kantel, A.J., 2017. Global civil society. Environmental Governance
Reconsidered: Challenges, Choices, and Opportunities, page175.