The emergence and development of the concept of civil society. Theoretical foundations for the formation and support of civil society institutions in a democratic state governed by the rule of law The emergence of civil society
The formation of legal statehood became possible as a result of the maturation of civil society, which includes all types of relations not mediated by the state - economic, political, cultural, religious, etc. The interests and needs of groups and individuals are realized through such institutions of civil society as political parties, social movements, professional and creative associations, territorial and national communities, family, church, etc. In Russia, the prerequisites for the emergence of civil society institutions appeared at the turn of the 60s of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. However, only in last decade In the 20th century, Russia resumed its difficult path to civil society, and the formation of the institutions of such a society is complicated by a deep economic and social crisis, which is a powerful factor of destabilization public life, low level of civic culture of the population, bureaucratization of the state apparatus, criminalization of the main spheres of state and economic activity.
The concept of “civil society” means a state of society in which conditions are created for the observance of rights and freedoms, the development of civic initiative and political activity, and the real participation of citizens in politics. Modern civil society is the result of a long historical development. The formation of civil society went and goes hand in hand with the formation of the rule of law.
In the political science literature, there is no unambiguous understanding of civil society. But in general the prevailing view is that civil society is not political relations in society, manifested through associations and organizations of citizens, legally protected from direct government intervention. American political scientist O. Encarnacion believes that civil society covers a vast and diverse world of organizations created by private individuals to defend their interests and values. This world includes freely formed grassroots organizations of citizens, such as neighborhood associations, as well as hierarchically organized groups such as national unions and ethnic associations. See D. Bowes, Libertarianism: History, Principles, Politics. Per. from English Chelyabinsk, 2004. P. 18.. A. Khlopin considers the formation of civil society as “the process of structuring modern Russian society, regulated by a set of legal norms, generally accepted value orientations and informal rules” Khlopin A.D. Civil society in Russia: ideology, utopia, reality // Pro et Contra. 2002. No. 1. P.120..
Various forms of self-organization of citizens contain huge reserves for the social, economic and cultural development of Russia. Civil society grows out of a sense of social responsibility - the desire of a citizen, independently or in cooperation with other citizens, to take upon himself the solution of his own and common problems, without blaming them on the state. Social progress in Russia is impossible without a responsible civil society that knows how to criticize and control the government, forcing it to work in its own interests. The state should not “manage” voluntary associations of citizens, but support them, expanding the opportunities for their participation in government affairs.
Civil society has a complex structure, including economic, family, ethnic, religious and legal relations, morality, as well as political relations not mediated by the state between individuals as primary subjects of power, parties, interest groups, etc.
The structure of civil society usually includes the following components: recognition and equal legal protection of all forms of property; priority of fundamental rights and freedoms of man and citizen; separation of powers; ideological and political diversity, multi-party system; development of all forms of self-government, especially territorial; autonomy of professional communities; freedom of religion.
A special place in the structure of civil society is occupied by media independent of the state (that is, freedom of information). The growing importance of these factors even caused the emergence of the concept of the information society, which should soon replace the modern one Gellner E. Conditions of Freedom. Civil society and its historical rivals. M.: 1995. P. 57..
In a developed civil society, human dignity and respect for the individual and family are established as the unshakable foundation of the socio-political and state system. “...The great goal of civil society is the happiness of individuals: for how can a society prosper if each of its constituent members is unhappy?” - asked the Scottish thinker A. Ferguson Ferguson A. Experience in the history of civil society / Trans. from English Ed. M.A. Abramova. M.: 2000. P. 107..
A person’s decent existence is his freedom, well-being, security and the opportunity to develop his abilities. The state is only a tool to achieve these goals. Its raison d'être is to serve citizens, not to sacrifice them to abstract ideas. The basic principle of such a society is: the state is for man, and not man for the state. Legal regulation of the relationship between the rule of law and civil society is carried out according to the following principles: for the authorities - everything that is not permitted by law is prohibited; for citizens - everything that is not prohibited by law is permitted.
According to D. Lovell, post-communism faces the task of legitimizing newly created institutions, both political and civil. It is the alternative ways of legitimizing new institutions and the decisions they make that make trust necessary. It creates the basis of broad social cooperation, on which voluntary associations then arise and proceed economic development within the framework of the rule of law. A possible alternative is the attempt to justify legitimacy through ethnicity or nationalism. This solution is not long-term, but it attracts some politicians who want to shift the burden of responsibility for their own political mistakes onto the shoulders of others Lovell D. Trust and politics in a post-communist society // Social Sciences and Modernity. 2002. No. 3. P.158..
Building trust can consolidate liberal democracy and a truly civil society. To do this, it is necessary to form and defend public interest. Citizens need to be informed about new form and the role of politics, and of civil servants, regarding the nature and importance of the public interest. A transparent and controlled management system can more decisively counteract abuses in economic and other spheres of life. However, it is impossible to introduce trust by simple decree. It arises as a habit and requires constant practice.
Civil society, in contrast to political society with its vertical structures of hierarchical relationships, necessarily presupposes the presence of horizontal, power-free connections, the deep basis of which is the production and reproduction of material life, the maintenance of the life of society.
The functions of civil society are performed by its structural elements - amateur and voluntary civil associations. It is in this kind of association that a civic active personality “matures.”
Civil society is impossible without recognizing freedom as an absolute value in human life. Only a free state can ensure the well-being and security of its citizens and gain the prospect of dynamic development in the 21st century. Freedom cannot survive in a society that does not strive for justice. Such a society is doomed to a split between those whose freedom is supported by material well-being, and those for whom it is synonymous with debilitating poverty. The outcome of this split can be either social upheaval or the dictatorship of a privileged minority. Justice requires striving not only for equality of rights, but also for equality of opportunities for citizens to realize their abilities, as well as guaranteeing a dignified existence for those who are deprived of them.
The remark of American researchers M. Foley and B. Edwards seems fundamentally important for the development of civil movements in Russia: “Where the state is unreceptive, its institutions are undemocratic, and its democracy responds poorly to the demands of citizens, the nature of collective action will be radically different than with a strong and democratic system. In such a society, government policy thwarts the efforts of citizens to organize to achieve some civic goals - sometimes through open suppression, sometimes through simple ignorance. Then more and more aggressive forms of civil associations arise, and more and more ordinary citizens either become involved in an active struggle against the state, or fall into salutary apathy” Foley M.W., Edwards B. The Paradox of Civil Society // Russian Journal. 1997. No. 10..
According to the Russian scientist S. Peregudov, the development of civil society in Russia depends on two players: “from the state and business, which in Russian conditions, in fact, predetermine both the paths of development of civil society and the models of its political participation” Peregudov S.P. Civil society as a subject of public policy // Polis. 2006. No. 2. P.146..
In the Message Federal Assembly RF dated April 25, 2005, the President of the Russian Federation proposed an effective mechanism for bringing the country out of the crisis, one of the aspects of which is the strengthening of civil society, capable of becoming a full-fledged partner of the state. The roots of Russian failures are in the underdevelopment of civil society and the inability of the authorities to speak and cooperate with it. Therefore, the most important task is “to learn to use the instruments of the state to ensure freedom - personal freedom, freedom of entrepreneurship, freedom of development of civil society institutions” See Message of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of April 25, 2005. M: Rossiyskaya Gazeta, April 25, 2004.
Dmitry Medvedev, in his address to the Public Chamber, emphasized: “A mature civil society is... the foundation, one of the guarantees of the stable development of our country. And our task is to create such a system when civil structures take part in the development public policy and in assessing its quality."
A free society can only be built within the framework of a stable political system, which excludes any arbitrariness and assumes the active role of the state in creating an economic order aimed at welfare for all. The market is not an end in itself, but a means of achieving freedom and prosperity for all Russian citizens. The task of the state is to orient the free market towards achieving social goals, and not to force it to do so.
It is believed that there are a lot of objective obstacles to the formation of civil society in Russia, since this process takes place in conditions of private property that has not yet been strengthened, a weak and “uncrystallized” middle class, and the vitality of the traditions of statism and egalitarianism. Therefore, for the successful development of civil society, a number of conditions are necessary, the most important of which are the achievement and preservation of civil consent; consensus on fundamental issues of modernization of Russian society; a long period of public economic growth; creating economic and political conditions for the formation of a powerful middle class; dominance in society of an individual who does not rely on the state to satisfy his interests; spiritual, moral, religious renewal of society, since only in an atmosphere of norms of philanthropy, restraint and responsibility, liberal democratic values inherent in civil society stimulate truly healthy principles. Moreover, the state should in this case take on only regulatory functions that ensure the safety of citizens and promote constructive processes in civil society, i.e. the main thing becomes the correlation of the rational government controlled and self-regulation of civil society See: Golenkova Z.T. Civil society in Russia. // Socis. 1997. No. 3. P. 34..
In this formulation of the question, much is determined by the very understanding of civil society, the idea of which was initially a kind of integrating program of action capable of giving a holistic understanding of what is happening and ensuring the effective and stable development of the country. Most researchers saw civil society as a society of real civil and political rights with a predominance of horizontal connections between people, free and voluntary participation of citizens in public affairs and a high level of self-organization. In fact, at the theoretical level we were talking about a society of free and independent individuals, but aware of their responsibility to their immediate social environment and to society as a whole. And the extremely broad understanding of social freedom extended it to all aspects of social life without exception.
That is why, due to various circumstances, the liberal-radical ideological and political interpretation of civil society has received the greatest recognition, in which it is considered as a complete analogue of a “society of market democracy” with the most limited capabilities of the state to regulate social processes. With this approach, the “man of the market” is conceived as the “basis” of the entire social organism, the principle of its existence, fixed by political, legal, cultural and other social institutions. Thus, not only certain norms are given public order, but also the extremes of liberal-individualistic principles with their separation and transformation of individuals into social “atoms” unrelated to each other, which, in turn, strive only for material success. From these positions, the entire diversity of existing reality is, willy-nilly, considered merely as a means of achieving this established goal, and not as something “that has meaning in itself and participates on equal rights in the integral life of humanity” Frank S. L. Spiritual foundations of society. M.: 1992. P. 28..
This approach was largely determined by the theory of transformation, used to describe and analyze the processes of transition of former socialist countries to a market economy and democratic political institutions. The goal of all transformations (from the standpoint of this theory) is to establish an institutional order that reproduces the reality of modern Western countries. In accordance with this goal, there must be a radical reorganization of all social life on fundamentally new social grounds. And since any society has a systemic nature, then changes, according to this theory, should occur simultaneously in all spheres of social life. As a result, the total and simultaneous transformation of society, based on the requirements of a radical change in the social order, does not ensure any preservation of historical continuity and self-identity of the state and society.
The fallacy of these initial theoretical guidelines led Russia to a deep crisis, the collapse of the usual image of the world, which led to mass disorientation, loss of identification both at the individual level and at the level of society as a whole. In fact, a situation has now arisen where the political and social ideas of the West are also being borrowed. The rationalistic treatment and cosmopolitan tendency of these ideas predisposed one to such abstract constructions human hostel, which were as far from Russian as from European reality See: Kozlikhin, I. Yu. The idea of a rule of law: history and modernity. St. Petersburg: Publishing house S - Petersburg. University, 1993. P. 35..
The result of all this was that the intense passion for the problems of civil society, which was observed in the late 80s - early 90s. XX century was replaced by pessimistic assessments of both what has been achieved and the general prospects for post-socialist development of Russia. The perception of civil society as the main condition for the irreversibility of Russian democracy has largely lost its normative value, as well as any practical significance against the background of the instant degradation of the social order. Such a drastic change was associated not only with the real and contradictory processes of transformation of society, but also, no less important, with the generally accepted interpretation of the concept of civil society, which prevailed at the turn of these years in our public consciousness. Ideas about civil society during this period turned out to be more politically sloganistic than scientifically meaningful, since it was rather an emotional criticism of the Soviet system and a conviction in the decisive role of civil society in the process of democratic transformation.
Today's actualization of this issue occurs in significantly different conditions, when the civic maturity and political culture of members of society have increased, the ability of people to independently assess the advantages and disadvantages of a particular system, and to judge civil society more meaningfully. Gradually, the one-sided enthusiasm for civil relations of the Western type, the standard of which was the social foundations of the countries of Western Europe and North America, is beginning to be overcome. Serious studies have appeared concerning the specifics of civil society in various civilizations, in individual countries or groups of countries, and the importance of a specific historical analysis of this phenomenon. Modern literature increasingly emphasizes the need to form a model of civil society that would adequately meet the unique conditions of the country and could ensure its effective functioning.
At the same time, the situation remains in which the main versions of the concept of civil society are developed, as a rule, by supporters of the liberal paradigm, based on the priority of the principle of individualism in ensuring the effectiveness of the social system. And this again puts on the agenda an explanation of the processes taking place, taking into account the following features:
- - in the process of understanding the classical, i.e. Western, model of civil society on post-Soviet soil, mistakes were made and deviations were made that distorted the final result;
- - civil society, i.e. its Western incarnation, in principle does not suit Russia, because it is a product that grew on a completely different soil, as a result of a completely different organic development than ours;
- - civil society is only an ideological construct, at best an ideological abstraction, at worst a myth; all attempts to define it are bogged down in numerous reservations, which reflects the lack of development of this concept from a scientific point of view;
- - the civil society we are arguing about no longer exists; By the time this issue became relevant in the post-Soviet space, it had undergone such significant changes that now its appearance and structures have become completely different than before.
These circumstances inevitably led to two consequences. On the one hand, the opinion is increasingly being expressed that Russia is a unique country, which is not suitable for the modernization mechanisms of the West, developed in fundamentally different conditions. But the range of opinions on this matter is simply amazing: some believe that Russia, as a developing country, is doomed (unlike developed countries) to shocks and cataclysms; others see her on the brink of an abyss due to the policies of bourgeois reformers; still others are convinced that the natural development of the country was interrupted by communism, the consequences of which will affect the economy, politics and culture for a long time; still others believe that the true and beneficial content of the reforms could not manifest itself due to the inertia, inertia and underdevelopment of the people and the resistance of reactionary forces, etc.
On the other hand, many researchers have come to the conclusion that Russia needs to find a development path that will allow it to combine the achievements of the modernization development of Western countries with the specific features of the Russian way of life, to implement them without breaking, but relying on the still living traditional elements of the social structure Russian society. And in this regard, the point of view seems quite justified that throughout virtually the entire history of Russia, almost all ideas, social hypotheses, and political technologies that came from the West, at one time attractive, turned out to be completely or largely discredited. In all cases, the results were radically different from what served as a model for them in the West, and for all such attempts, society paid a high, sometimes unacceptably high price (reforms of Peter I, Stalin, Yeltsin). In this strange constancy of the relationship between the original idea and the final practical result of its application, there is some kind of deep pattern that directly goes back to the nature and features of the structure and existence of Russian society and statehood See: Kosolapov N. The idea of Europe in Russian self-awareness: a look at the problem / / World Economy and international relationships, 1997. No. 11. pp. 150..
For example, in modern Western science there is a huge amount of literature devoted to civil society. It is possible to distinguish four main conceptual approaches that determine the direction of scientific thought in assessing the state of civil society in Russia, namely: civil society in the context of post-communist transformations; civil society as a “third sector” - in addition to the state and market sectors; transnationalization of civil society; deviant forms of uncivil society See: Has civil society taken hold in Russia? // Sociological research. 2007. No. 1. P. 48.
The most common position is that the formation of civil society in Russia should be based on the classical theory of democracy, and the development of civil society itself should be the cornerstone of the democratization process. And since in Russia before the establishment of the communist regime there were no democratic traditions to which one could return, then, therefore, civil society should be created as if from scratch.
In general, the view of civil society from the point of view of post-communist transformation focuses on its leading role, as already mentioned, in the democratization of society. With this approach, the successes and failures of Russian civil society are assessed by the results that have been achieved in the areas of representation, civic participation and freedom of opinion See: Has civil society succeeded in Russia? // Sociological research. 2007. No. 1. P. 49..
This neglect of the method of historical interpretation leads, in essence, to unscientific attempts to offer a certain “set” useful functions civil society, naturally from a certain position of understanding the prospects, and thereby impose a strictly determined development model on the transforming countries. And, unfortunately, the existing multiplicity of specific historical and cultural types of civil society still comes down to some single and universal model, which, most likely, can really replace previous ideas about communism, but at the same time retain their previous status, namely, the status of another social utopia.
Ignoring the fact that the concept of civil society has a collective, generalizing nature, because it includes many initial ideas reflecting the dynamics and diversity of social life, as well as differences in its interpretation associated with a purely opportunistic ideological vision of the hierarchy of factors influencing the formation and development of civil society society, ultimately leads to the idea of an ideal type, which not only has nothing in common with the available empirical material, but also directly denies any sociocultural originality of any particular society.
One can, of course, proceed, as some authors do, from ideas about civil society as an exclusively speculative theoretical construct that is not fixed in any clear institutional forms, i.e. from ideas about a society that is never in a complete state and which can only be understood by realizing the historical process as a whole. But in this case, the concept of civil society acquires a purely ideological content, which confirms, according to P. Bourdieu, “a partial form of scientific competence” See: Beginnings. // Power. 2008. No. 12. pp. 59-60.. And the very idea of civil society loses not only all analytical value, but also its axiological meaning.
This statement is easily illustrated by the limitations of currently dominant interpretations of civil society. For example, one of the most important features of civil society is its autonomy, its “separation” from political power, from the state. It is from these positions that, first of all, the situation in post-socialist countries is assessed. But if we trace the development of relations between civil society and the state within the framework of the Western tradition itself, it will be possible to state that in the West, where these relations developed naturally and evolutionarily, nevertheless, the role, functions and place of the state in the socio-economic development of society changed radically in accordance with the stages of development of capitalist relations. Private capitalism required a “minimal”, “cheap” state, but the emergence and, especially, the development of monopolies that destroyed the established “rules of the game” led to the strengthening of the state.
Russia traditionally belongs to those countries that are more oriented towards the state than towards society. A deeply rooted belief in the need strong state, which, unfortunately, was often equated with the self-will of the authorities. Society, by tradition, is not sufficiently autonomous and independent, and citizens are often left at the mercy and disgrace of the state and omnipotent politicians. For example, the history of the Russian State, its tradition, specifics. “In the East (and in Russia) the state was everything, civil society was in a primary, amorphous state. In the West, there was an orderly relationship between the state and civil society, and if the state began to falter, the solid structure of civil society immediately emerged. The state was only an advanced trench, behind which there was a strong chain of fortresses and casemates” Nersesyants V.S. History of ideas of legal statehood. M.: 2003. P. 84..
In Russia, the introduction of structures and institutions of civil society into the Russian social space, as a rule, led to negative social consequences: it determined the transition of conflict tendencies existing in a latent form in each social system into an open social form of their manifestations; initiated the “release” of negative social energy into the space-time continuum of society; led to large casualties and, ultimately, hampered the development of Russian society.
This is primarily due to the fact that in Russia, unlike Western countries, a different type of social system has historically developed, which is based on the efficiency of power, and not the efficiency of property. It is characterized by “inverted” relations of property and power. To the historical or traditional reasons hindering the development of civil society in Russia, one should add modern reasons blocking the possibilities of this development.
It seems that at the present stage it is necessary to introduce Russian political life three public institutions - the Institute of Public Hearings on Socially Significant Legal Issues, the Institute of Public Legislative Initiative and the Institute of National Discussion of Bills. The creation of such public institutions is intended to strengthen civil society and promote the development of legal and democratic institutions of the state.
The difficulties in the formation of civil society in Russia are also due to a number of specific circumstances.
Russia, as is known, is a multinational and multi-religious state. This, in turn, affects the structure of civil society. Its inalienable component form national and religious associations. Under favorable conditions, they can play (and often play) a positive role, establishing cooperation, removing historically accumulated prejudices and mutual claims. However, if these conditions are absent, there is a danger - under the influence of both internal and, in some cases, external impulses - of the negative impact of these organizations on intergroup relations, fraught with undermining social stability.
It is also important that a number of ethnic and religious minorities living mainly in the east and south of the country are deeply rooted in behavioral stereotypes of traditional communal-tribal (clan) interpersonal relations. In modern conditions, these relations often act, among other things, as a unique form of civil society, on the one hand, performing a number of its functions, and, on the other, unlawfully isolating the community it controls from the norms of legal and moral behavior accepted in the country. This circumstance puts on the agenda an urgent need to both integrate these relations into the overall civil society and minimize their negative manifestations.
Another specific circumstance is generated by the specifics of the Russian government. Despite the unificationist impulses coming from the top, it still remains (and, apparently, will remain) a federation. This makes the federal organization of civil society itself inevitable. Both organizationally and functionally, he has to reproduce the steps and hierarchy of the power vertical. As a result, there are grounds to talk about civil society at the federal, regional and municipal levels. Each of them solves specific problems and develops its own special relationships with administrative and political authorities.
The formation of civil society is the strategic goal of reforms in Russia. Only this will confirm the positive outcome of fundamental changes in Russia. The concept of the rule of law in the era of a developed industrial society and the transition to post-industrial development is the concept of a democratic constitutional state See: State for the People: a new development strategy for Russia Social sciences and modernity. 2000. No. 6. P. 48-61. .
Initially, the term civil society (or community) arose during antiquity and the Middle Ages, when the origin of the concept itself, the characteristics of a special quality, or style, of the joint life of members of small communities (city-states) took place. The main feature of this style was political communication. Politics was perceived as the art of living together within polis groups. “Plato substantiates the idea of a just, virtuous social order. Aristotle says that the state is a collection of citizens sufficient for self-sufficient existence, Cicero emphasizes that the law is the connecting link of civil society, and the right established by law is the same for everyone.” Chistyakov N.M. Theory of state and law: textbook. M, 2010. - P. 268.
For a long time, civil society was completely identified with the state, which was due to the weak development of the division of labor, commodity-money relations, and the existence of the concept of castes and estates.
Since civil society is a whole complex of relations within society and in relation to the state, any one characteristic cannot be applied to it. Therefore, to look for the prerequisites for civil society, according to I.I. Kalny, it makes sense to look for it at the turn of the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society. That is why elements of civil society were most clearly manifested primarily in the economy.
At the second stage, the conceptual provisions are substantiated, the theory itself is formed (J. J. Rousseau, J. Locke, C. Montesquieu, I. Kant, W. Humboldt, G. Hegel, etc.).
“As a scientific concept, civil society took shape during the era of the formation of capitalist relations in Europe during the English and French bourgeois-democratic revolutions of the 17th-18th centuries. It was first used by English philosophers T. Hobbes and J. Locke to designate a certain stage of historical development human society, its transition from natural to civilized existence” Kryaklina T.F. Civil society: classical and modern concepts//Civil society and the rule of law. 2013. T. 1. - P. 17.
In 1215, England adopted the Magna Carta, which established the principle of parliamentarism. Further, a series of documents (Petition of Rights of 1628, Declaration of Rights of 1688) designated a wide range of individual rights, which further separated society from the state (monarchical power).
The next milestone in the development of the ideas of civil society is the famous French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789. “The Declaration proclaimed as the highest principles: justice, freedom, equality, security, brotherhood, resistance to oppression, religious tolerance, state control of society, inviolability of private property, equality of all citizens” Sokolov A.N., Serdobintsev K.S., Civil society: problems formation and development (philosophical and legal aspects), Kaliningrad, 2009. - P. 15..
The principle: “everything that is not prohibited by law is permitted” has forever come into use; the Declaration also provided for guarantees of human rights and other legal foundations of civil society.
An interesting fact is that already in the 18th century, W. Humboldt identified three differences between civil society and the state.
To the first he included: a system of national, public institutions formed by the individuals themselves; natural and common law; person.
The state, in his opinion, consists of: a system of state institutions; positive law; citizen.
G. Hegel made a more clear distinction between civil society and the state. He “concluded that civil society as a sphere of private interests, as a connection of people through a system of needs and division of labor, is independent in relation to the state, but is closely connected with it, because it needs legal institutions and law and order, justice, as well as the police and bodies ensuring external order” Chistyakov N.M. Theory of state and law: textbook. M, 2010. - P. 268..
According to the philosophical justification of I. Kantav, the basis of the civil legal status must be based on the following principles:
Freedom of every member of society as a person;
His equality with every other as a subject;
Independence (a person must create everything on his own and be responsible for what he does);
Conflicts of interests and the need to protect them, which are the reasons for people’s self-improvement;
The condition for civil freedom is the self-improvement of people.
The Italian city-republics of Northern Italy were seriously ahead on the path to civil society, where the formed guilds and workshops actively participated in both economic and political life. “As N. Machiavelli noted, the peace and security of citizens, the enjoyment of their property and wealth, the right of everyone to have and defend their beliefs were considered as public values” Kalnoy I.I. Civil society: origins and modernity. St. Petersburg, 2000. - pp. 55-56..
In the narrow sense of the word, the concept of civil society as a collective community, a whole existing independently of the state, finally took shape in the 19th-20th centuries. at the third stage, the formation and further development of the theory of civil society takes place.
The materialistic characteristics of the analyzed phenomenon and the category that reflects it were given by K. Marx and F. Engels.
Two directions can be distinguished in their definition of the concept of civil society:
“civil society as a set of production relations and the form of communication associated with them;
transformation of the concept of civil society into the concept of socio-economic formation.” Sokolov A.N., Serdobintsev K.S., Civil society: problems of formation and development (philosophical and legal aspects), Kaliningrad, 2009. - P. 85
By the end of the 19th century, the development of Marx's concept had become incredibly widespread in Europe, but most scholars viewed the processes of formation of civil society with the priority of class confrontation, rather than the broader civil society-state relationship. Gradually, they began to move away from this theory, which led to the division of the life of society into state and non-state, “influencing the formation and adoption of political, administrative decisions and developing public opinion.” Kalnoy I.I. Civil society: origins and modernity. St. Petersburg, 2000. - P. 59.
In the 20th century, both of these directions were reflected: the first in Western European social-democratic thought, the second in Bolshevik Russia.
Socialist science did not consider the concept of “civil society” as such, nor did it consider the concept of a “rule of law state,” and therefore for many years it left the field of study “as unnecessary.”
An excursion into the history of the formation of ideas of civil society allows us to formulate our own understanding of this phenomenon. Of course, this is a certain level (the highest) of development of society as a whole. It presupposes a system of relations between people, individuals, in which the freedom of everyone is ensured while respecting the interests of all, through the creation and use of a variety of forms and institutions, allowing a given society to function independently without overwhelming government intervention, to develop and improve its system using existing rules of law , traditions and customs that have highly moral and general humanistic principles.
Each stage of world history had its own ideas about the state and civil society, formed on the basis of the state-legal and social phenomena that existed at that time, its own vision of their boundaries and the nature of relationships.
Let's consider modern views on the problem of creating a civil society and building a rule of law state in the context of Russian conditions.
In modern political science, society is viewed as a combination of civil society and the state, as the main institution of political power. Civil society acts as a link between the citizen and the state. It is where people's daily political life takes place. Political power, in order to strengthen itself, creates a political system and its basis - the state.
The history of the development of the state clearly identifies two trends:
· democratic, legal state;
Which way the state will develop depends largely on the level of development of civil society. Let's try to understand the essence of civil society, the history of its emergence and the role that civil society plays in the political life of the country.
Civil society- this is a non-state part of socio-political life; is a set of social relations, formal and informal structures that provide conditions political activity human, satisfaction and realization of various needs and interests of the individual and social groups and associations.
Among scientists there is no consensus on the origin of civil society. Civil society emerges:
1. With the emergence of humanity;
2. The emergence of the state;
3. In a bourgeois society with the values of liberal democracy.
Some see the beginnings of society already at the primitive communal stage of development, when family and clan communities begin to form.
Others believe that with the advent of private property and the exploiting classes, civil society creates the state as an organ of the ruling class.
Still others believe that civil society emerged as a protest of citizens against the omnipotence of the state, as a desire of people to realize their rights and freedoms.
Historically, civil society is formed much earlier than the state, at the dawn of humanity. Researchers highlight the following stages of formation civil society:
First– the beginnings of civil society are formed through the emergence of the simplest, few and unstable associations of people for the joint acquisition of food, construction of housing, protection from animals and enemies;
Second– with the emergence of the production sphere of life, associations of people become more numerous and functionally diverse. At this stage, a community is formed and civil society essentially coincides with the community;
Third– at a certain stage of development of the human community, a state arises. Consequently, the scope of civil society is narrowed to the extent that part of the members of society - slaves, serfs - are deprived of civil rights. A weak civil society at this stage is absorbed by the state. The state becomes the sole arbiter of the destinies of all citizens;
Fourth– as social contradictions intensify, the formation of civil society accelerates. The formation of various, especially protective structures of civil society is intensifying. At this stage, civil society seeks legislative regulation and regulation of relations between it and the state. Civil society forces the state to create certain guarantees for the most disadvantaged part of the population. Civil society establishes a consensus in society based on basic social values: freedoms, political rights, economic independence of a person;
Fifth– is associated with the establishment of capitalist production relations and, most importantly, with the elimination of non-economic dependence on the owners of the means of production and the introduction of legal equality. All this expands the scope of civil society to the scale of the entire state.
The rudiments of civil society are formed through the emergence of the simplest, few unstable associations of people for the joint acquisition of food, construction of housing, production of household items and clothing, protection from enemies and wild animals.
Over time, in connection with the development of the production sphere of life, associations of people become more numerous, functionally diverse, and stable. Communities are formed, and people understand that within the community they can ensure that their needs are met, and that working for the benefit of the community gives them the right to participate in solving community affairs. Civil society essentially coincides with the community.
At a certain stage of its development, civil society creates a state to protect its interests, maintains the state apparatus, and controls it to a certain extent, which the state actively resists.
While civil society remains in an amorphous state, the state, gaining strength, to a certain extent absorbs it and becomes the sole arbiter of the destinies of all citizens.
But precisely because civil society is immature, the state itself is not stable.
Over time, civil society strives for legislative regulation and regulation of relations between it and the state, forces the state to create certain guarantees for the most disadvantaged, to establish and maintain some consensus in society based on basic social values: freedoms, rights, economic independence of a person.
In conditions of developed capitalist relations, civil society again, as at the dawn of its development, expands its scope to the scale of the entire society, to the scale of the entire country.
Modern civil society began to take shape as a result of bourgeois revolutions in Western Europe. Its real functioning began with the adoption of the Bills of Rights in England and the USA and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in France.
Civil society does not arise immediately; certain conditions are necessary for its formation and formation. The practice of Western countries and the general theory of civil society allow us to identify the following most universal or objective conditions for the formation of civil society.
1. Civil society creates a specific society itself in two ways - through the state or in spite of it. Through the state - this is through certain laws, the formation of democratic structures, and strict adherence by the state to generally accepted norms and procedures. Contrary to the state - by creating mass socio-political movements and the media.
2. Possession of specific property in its various forms by each member of civil society and the right to dispose of it at his own discretion. According to Western researchers of this problem, the presence of property is considered as a basic condition for individual freedom in civil society. However, there is a different opinion of scientists on this issue. So Russian political scientist D.P. Zerkin has completely different views regarding private property as a basic value of civil society. He writes that private property divides people, makes them antagonists, and therefore all existing forms of property should be included in the basis of Russian civil society. D.P. Zerkin believes that the basis of civil society is the entire set of economic relations, and the criterion for its functioning is the system of various social interests generated by it.
3. An important condition for the formation of civil society is the presence in society of a developed, diverse social structure. It reflects the richness and diversity of interests of representatives of various groups and layers of citizens of the state.
4. High level social, intellectual, psychological development of the individual, her internal freedom and ability for complete initiative.
2. Concept, characteristics and structure of civil society
In modern legal science, taking into account the conclusions of foreign researchers, the following definition is given. Civil society– this is a human community, including voluntarily formed primary non-state structures in the economic, political, social and spiritual spheres of society; this is a set of non-state relations and the sphere of manifestation of free individuals, organizations and associations of citizens.
Civil society and the state complement each other and depend on one another. Without a mature civil society, it is not possible to build a legal democratic state, since it is conscious free citizens who are capable of creating the most rational forms of human coexistence. Thus, if civil society acts as a strong mediating link between a free individual and the centralized state will, then the state is called upon to counteract disintegration, chaos, crisis, decline and provide conditions for the realization of the rights and freedoms of an autonomous individual. The division of civil society and the state is quite arbitrary; this is done in order to understand the mechanisms of social life, the degree of freedom and non-freedom of individuals, and the level of political development.
Civil society exists and functions in contradictory unity with the state. So, in a democratic regime, it interacts with the state, and in a totalitarian regime, it stands in passive or active opposition to the state.
In modern understanding, civil society is:
1. The set of non-political relations of people, social communities that are outside state structures and fix private, group interests.
2. Social interaction of the population of a given territory in the economic and social areas on the principles of self-regulation, self-government, based on personal equality and the norms of traditional community life. State regulation operates here only in order to control antisocial actions.
3. The highest modern stage and form of human community, including as structural elements voluntarily formed primary communities of people: families, public organizations, cooperations, associations, professional, creative, sports associations, excluding state and political structures.
Political scientists identify the following historical types of civil society:
· social formations(estate, social group, class);
· society as the totality of citizens of the country;
· global community of citizens.
V economic sphere - the following structural elements: non-state enterprises and associations, cooperatives, collective farms. Economic attributes of civil society - natural integration, competition, free market relations;
V socially in the th sphere - these are families, public organizations and movements, non-state media, self-government bodies, a mechanism for the formation and expression of public opinion and interests in a civilized form without violence;
V political sphere - political parties, socio-political organizations, clubs created as necessary. It is a struggle to uphold democratic principles, traditions and procedures;
V spiritual sphere is the presence of freedom of thought, conscience, and speech. This is independence and independence from government and political structures activities of creative and other citizen associations in the spiritual sphere.
Thus, civil society is a community of civilized, active and full-fledged citizens; the formation of civil society is associated with the formation of the idea of individual freedom, the intrinsic value of each individual; the emergence of civil society led to the distinction between human rights and the rights of a citizen, human rights are ensured by civil society, and the rights of a citizen are ensured by the state; in civil society the unity of politics and religion, politics and ideology is abolished and the bifurcation of public and private, society and state, law and morality is established.
The formation of civil society means the formation of a community of people in which an optimal balance of political and non-political principles is achieved, mutual equality of rights, freedoms and responsibilities of a citizen, society and state is ensured.
Signs of civil society:
The presence in society of free owners of the means of production;
Development and ramifications of democracy;
Legal protection of citizens;
A certain level of civic culture.
The fundamental features of civil society are:
1. Availability of property at the disposal of people (individual or collective ownership). This is the basic condition for individual freedom.
2. The presence in society of a developed, diverse social structure, reflecting all the richness and diversity of interests of various groups and strata, a developed and ramified democracy.
3. A high level of intellectual and psychological development of members of society, their ability to perform independently when included in one or another institution of civil society, the rule of law of the population, i.e. functioning of the rule of law state.
The concept of civil society came into widespread use in the seventeenth century in England (in English civil society), and then in other states, and its main idea is that a society consisting of individual individuals - citizens - is obliged to have its own laws that prevent manifestations in relation to each individual the possibility of arbitrary interference by state authorities.
History of the concept
The term civil society was first introduced by Aristotle. This concept comes from the Latin words civilic (from Latin meaning civil), civitas (from Latin meaning state), civis (from Latin meaning citizen).
It seems correct to single out three main principles that form civil society - the individual, society and state power. At the same time, their relationships change qualitatively in the process of evolution.
Renaissance
In the seventeenth century, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, in his writings first in Leviathan and then in On the Citizen, presented a new strategy for civil society, emerging from the transition from the irrational primitive state of tribal opposition towards an orderly developed society, the individuals of which, in turn, obey state power.
According to the views of the most prominent philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, here, in addition to Thomas Hobbes, we should highlight John Locke and Him. Kant, Civil Society is a union of individuals, a society where any of its members acquires the highest human qualities. But at the same time, the state prevails over civil society.
German school
A fundamentally different concept is adhered to by German sociologists and economists - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. They argue that Civil Society is an object of materialized and economic activity of humanity. It is this that is given priority in relations with the state; civil life as a set of various interests strengthens the state.
It seems that at the basis of the idea of civil society there is a constant movement: continuous modification, rationalization and breakthrough from the most underdeveloped state of the individual, civil society and power to a more highly rational and civilized one. J. Rousseau calculated the foundations of this movement as progress towards citizenship, rationality and civilization, which means the formation of the most developed individual, the improvement of relations within civil society and rational, civilized state power.
The birth and consolidation of the basis of civil society arises as a reasonable path in which both individual individuality and civil relations between all individuals are transformed, and even society as a universal principle of civil society and the state itself, as well as the relationship between civil society and the individual, civil society and the state apparatus.
Interaction with the individual
The main issue of civil society is the area of its contact with each individual - a citizen, an independent person.
According to Georg Hegel, Civil Society is part of the realization of the individual interests of any individual. Moreover, in civil society there is no freedom, because in civil society there is a constant clash of differential private goals with power, which has a comprehensive character.
Interaction with the state
Another important issue civil society is its relationship with the state. The famous American educator Thomas Paine sees civil society as good and the state as evil. Thomas Paine believes that the more developed a civil society is, the less this society needs intervention from the state.
It seems that Civil Society is a socially organized structure, which is basically born outside the boundaries of state structures, but after its inception it also extends to state structures, since they are also created by citizens - individuals, that is, particles of civil society.
Such elements state power, as the fundamental law - the constitution, selectivity of government bodies, differentiation of branches of government, the presence of many parties and the legitimacy of the opposition, etc. do not yet represent part of civil society, but are generated by it and are ways of its influence in relations with the state.
Basic institutions of society
It should also be noted that the legislative consolidation of such institutions as personal integrity, equality of all before the law and the court, independence of the judiciary, freedom of speech are the most important guarantees in the relationship between civil society and the state.
Civil society is the basis of the rule of law, and together they constitute the links of the legal system. These concepts cannot exist separately from each other. A legal state cannot exist without the presence of a full-fledged civil society in it.
The concept of civil society discussed in this article is one of the key concepts of the theory of state and law, which in turn is the basis of the legal system of society. If you are interested in other terms and definitions of jurisprudence, you can read other articles posted on our website in the “Question and Answer” section.
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Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Federal Agency for Education
Penza State University
Faculty of Law
Academic discipline - theory of state and law
CIVIL SOCIETY
Course work
Completed by: 1st year student 3
groups of the Faculty of Law
Wagner K.I.
Scientific adviser:
Candidate of Law, Associate Professor Sumenkov S.Yu.
Penza - 2005
Introduction
1. Civil society: concept, characteristics, structure
1.1 The concept of civil society
1.2 Signs of civil society
1.3 Structure of civil society
2. Prerequisites for the emergence of civil society
3. The formation of civil society in Russia
3.1 History of the development of civil society in Russia
3.2 Ways to establish civil society in modern Russia
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
Civil society is a set of non-state private associations of citizens pursuing group and individual interests.
A developed civil society stands historical background formation of the rule of law. Without a mature civil society, it is impossible to build a democratic political system. Only politically active and free citizens can create the most rational forms of collective life. On the other hand, the state is called upon to provide conditions for the realization of the rights and freedoms of individuals and groups.
The topic of this course work is “Civil Society”. This topic is relevant for understanding the changes currently taking place in modern world.
The purpose of this course work is: to understand the concept of the rule of law, to define and identify the signs of the rule of law, its main characteristics, and also to identify the main aspects of the formation of civil society.
Achieving this goal is possible by solving the following tasks:
1. Consider the concept, characteristics and structure of civil society;
2. Consider the prerequisites for the emergence of civil society;
3. Consider the main stages of the formation of civil society in Russia.
This course work consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion and a bibliography.
The problem of civil society is one of the fundamental scientific problems that has worried the best minds of mankind for many centuries.
It appeared with the emergence of the state and the division of society into state and non-state spheres of human life. Since then, the issue of the relationship between government and society has been in the center of everyone's attention, often being the cause of many social conflicts, political upheavals and revolutions. And now this problem is at the heart of global social changes that are taking place in many countries of the world and will determine the prospects for the development of the world community.
The topic of this work is discussed in all legal textbooks, as it is one of the most important topics in the study of the course on the theory of state and law.
1. Civil society: concept, characteristics, structure
1.1 Concept of civil society
The concept of civil society has been known to man since ancient times. In their works, Aristotle, Marx, Rousseau, Kant, Montesquieu, Machiavelli, Hegel, Locke and others describe civil society quite clearly, reliably and multifacetedly.
For example, Kant wrote this: Civil society is based on the following principles: 1) freedom of every member of society; 2) his equality with every other as a subject; 3) the independence of each member of society as a citizen. Kant I. Op. T. 4. Part II. P. 79.
According to Hegel, civil society is primarily a system of needs based on private property, as well as religion, family, classes, government structure, law, morality, duty, culture, education, laws and the resulting mutual legal relations of subjects. From a natural, “uncultured” state, Hegel wrote, “people must enter civil society, for only in the latter do legal relations have reality.”
At the same time, he emphasized that such a society is possible only “in the modern world.” In other words, civil society was opposed to savagery and underdevelopment. And by this we meant, of course, classical bourgeois society.
The main element in Hegel’s teaching about civil society is man - his role, functions, position. According to Hegelian views, the individual is an end for himself; its activities are aimed primarily at satisfying its own needs (natural and social). In this sense, she represents a kind of egoistic individual. At the same time, a person can satisfy his needs only by being in certain relationships with other people. “In civil society,” Hegel wrote, “everyone is a goal for himself, all others are nothing for him. But without correlation with others, he cannot achieve the full scope of his goals” Hegel G.V.F. Philosophy of law. M., 1990..
Marx in his early works quite often used the concept of civil society, denoting by it the organization of the family, estates, classes, property, distribution, real life people, emphasizing their historically determined nature, determination by economic and other factors.
The basic principle materialistic understanding K. Marx and F. Engels saw the history “of starting precisely from the material production of immediate life, to consider the actual process of production and to understand the form of communication associated with this method of production and the form of communication generated by it - that is, civil society at its various stages - as the basis of all history; then it is necessary to depict the activities of civil society in the sphere of state life, and also to explain from it all the various theoretical creations and forms of consciousness, religion, philosophy, morality, etc., and to trace the process of their emergence on this basis” Marx K., Engels F., L. Feuerbach. The opposition of materialistic and
idealistic views // New publication of the first chapter of “German Ideology”. M., 1966. P. 51. .
The concept of civil society can be interpreted in different ways. There are basically two approaches to interpreting this term. Proponents of one approach view civil society as a historical complex of social relations opposed to the state in any of its forms; as a kind of social universal. And the second approach considers civil society as a specific phenomenon, i.e. as a form of existence of a market-democratic society. There is also a point of view that connects the emergence of civil society with the emergence of a citizen endowed with certain rights and responsibilities. Ilyin M. Koval V. Two sides of the same coin: civil society and the rule of law // Polis.-1992-No. 1-2.
We can conclude that civil society is a society with developed economic, political, legal, cultural relations between its members, independent of the state, but interacting with it; this is a union of individuals with a developed, integral, active personality, high human
qualities (freedom, law, duty, morality, property, etc.) T.V. Kashanina, A.V. Kashanin. Fundamentals of Russian law. M., 1997.
1.2 Signs of civil society
To understand civil society, it is necessary to determine its main features. The absence or underdevelopment of some of them makes it possible to determine the state of “health” of society and the directions that are necessary for its self-improvement.
1. Civil society is, first of all, a community of free individuals. In economic terms, this means that each individual is an owner, i.e. actually possesses the means necessary for a normal existence. He is free to choose forms of ownership, determine the profession and type of work, and dispose of the results of his work.
Socially, an individual’s belonging to a particular social community (family, clan, class, nation) is not absolute. It can exist independently and has the right to sufficiently autonomous self-organization to satisfy its needs and interests.
The political aspect of the freedom of the individual as a citizen lies in his independence from the state, i.e. in the opportunity, for example, to be a member of a political party or association that criticizes the existing government, in the right to participate or not to participate in elections of state authorities and local self-government. Freedom is considered to be secured when an individual, through certain mechanisms (court, etc.) can limit the willfulness of state or other structures in relation to himself. V.D. Perevalov. Theory of State and Law. M., 2013 P. 350
2. Self-control;
3. Pluralism and free formation of public opinion;
4. Full provision of human and civil rights and freedoms;
5. The presence of part of the power in self-government bodies;
6. The principle of coordination;
7. Developed sense of collectivity, i.e. awareness of belonging to one culture;
8.High level of psychological and intellectual development of people, their readiness for independent activities when included in civil institutions and others.
Civil society strives to ensure that each person can determine his own life values and purpose. But in moving towards this goal, in civil society it is not always possible to avoid conflicts, because the majority strives for the same thing, “but for themselves they achieve what they want in their own way.” And civil society strives to protect people from clashes of this kind. All this gradually leads to the identification, as an independent value in society, of the civil rights and freedoms of each individual, including such rights as the right to life, freedom of speech, the right to free association in unions, the right to private property, etc.
Society is not created on purpose, but arises on a certain basis, but it should also be taken into account that some institutions of civil society are created in the interests of society itself as a whole, in order to achieve state expediency, to obtain public benefit and benefit.
Based on the above, the following can also be classified as signs of civil society:
Civil society does not allow conflicts between the members of society themselves;
Civil society arises on certain grounds, but it does not exclude the fact that some institutions are created in the interests of society as a whole and state rationalization.
You can also indicate a number of the most general ideas and principles that underlie any civil society, regardless of the specifics of a particular country. These include:
1) economic freedom, market relations, diversity of forms of ownership;
2) unconditional recognition and protection of the natural rights of man and citizen;
3) legitimacy and democratic nature of power;
4) equality of all before the law and justice, reliable legal protection of the individual;
5) a legal state based on the principle of separation and interaction of powers;
6) political and ideological pluralism, the presence of legal opposition;
7) freedom of opinion, speech and press, independence of the media;
8) non-interference by the state in the private life of citizens, their mutual duties and responsibilities;
9) class world, partnership and national harmony;
10) effective social policy that ensures a decent standard of living for people.
Civil society is not a state-political, but mainly an economic and personal, private sphere of people’s life, the real relationships between them. This is a free democratic legal society, where there is no place for a regime of personal power, voluntaristic methods of government, class hatred, totalitarianism, violence against people, where law and morality, the principles of humanism and justice are respected. This is a market, multi-structured competitive society with a mixed economy, a society of proactive entrepreneurship, a reasonable balance of interests of various social strata. N. I. Matuzov, A. V. Malko. Theory of state and law. Lawyer, 2004. P. 56
1.3 Structure of civil society
Structure is a set of structural elements that make up civil society and the relationships between them. The structure of civil society helps to identify the mechanism of its functioning.
Civil society has its own specific structure. Its components are various public institutions and formations that provide conditions for the realization of the personal needs of groups and individuals who will be able to put pressure on state power in order to force it to serve society.
Civil society includes the following components:
1) personality;
4) church;
5) property and entrepreneurship;
6) social groups, layers, classes;
7) private life of citizens and its guarantees;
8) institutions of democracy;
9) public associations, political parties and movements;
10) independent justice;
11) system of upbringing and education;
12) free media;
13) non-state socio-economic relations, etc. N.I. Matuzov, A.V. Malko. Theory of state and law. Lawyer, 2004. P. 57
Also, the structure of civil society can be divided into three levels.
The first level is satisfied by production relations, which are aimed at basic human needs, such as food, housing, etc., ensuring people’s livelihoods. Such needs are realized through consumer, professional and other associations and associations.
The second level of interpersonal relationships consists of needs such as the need for health, communication, information, spiritual development, procreation, etc. The needs of this level within the framework of the following institutions: church, family, creative circles, scientific and educational institutions and etc.
Political-cultural relations that contribute to the realization of the need for political participation, which are connected by personal and free choice based on value orientations and political preferences, constitute the highest, third level of interpersonal relations. These preferences of individuals are realized with the help of political movements, parties, interest groups, etc.
In civil society there is a single set of basic, most important orientations, values, and principles that guide all members of society. This complex is constantly being improved, updated, unites society together and determines the main characteristics of its economic and political subsystems. Economic and political freedoms are forms of manifestation of the fundamental freedom of a person as a member of society, as a valuable individual.
Civil society can be represented as a certain social space in which people interact as individuals independent from the state and from each other. The basis of civil society is a civilized, full-fledged person, therefore the essence and quality of society depends on the quality of the individuals composing it. The emergence of the idea of individual freedom, the self-worth of each person, is closely connected with the emergence of civil society.
The formation of civil society entailed the differentiation of human and civil rights. The state ensures the rights of the citizen, and civil society ensures human rights. But in both cases we are talking about individual rights, only in the first case we are talking about the rights of an individual human existence to freedom, life, etc., then in the second case we are talking about the political rights of the individual. The most important condition for the existence of both civil society and the rights of the state is an individual who has the right to self-realization. It is affirmed through the recognition of the right of individual, personal freedom of every person.
2. Prerequisites for the emergence of civil society
The reasons behind the emergence of civil society and its development originate in the objectively determined social needs of people, primarily economic. A fair resolution of contradictions gives rise to civil society. Democritus also argued that all changes in society are associated with need. The need has become more acute natural state people, contradictions in connection with the satisfaction of vital needs have necessitated a way out of the crisis by establishing a fair order mandatory for everyone - a legal order protected by the power of such a unity of people, which can be called a state-society. It is no coincidence that all thinkers before N. Machiavelli (before the beginning of the 16th century) identified society and the state. civil society civilian particular
Civil society arose long before it began to be theorized as such. Civil society as a system of relations in which equal individuals and the associations they form, in accordance with their free will on the basis of law, realize their interests, is based on private property of average income and originates with its emergence. It is with the advent of private property that the genesis of civil society begins. According to J. J. Rousseau, the first person who, having fenced a piece of land, said: “This is mine!” was the true founder of civil society. S.G. Drobyazko, B.C. Kozlov. General theory of law: textbook. manual for universities. - 2nd ed., corrected. and additional - Minsk: Amalthea. - 480 pp., 2007
The formation of civil society is inextricably linked with the establishment of the rule of law. A legal state cannot be imagined without civil society. Civil society can function normally only under a democratic regime; it is impossible under authoritarian and totalitarian regimes.
Historically, the traditional class-caste system has been replaced by civil society. Under the estate system, the state was separated from the bulk of the population and coincided with the propertied classes. In traditional societies, social inequality was expressed and enshrined in law: the social group that occupied a dominant position was organized into a state that protected the privileges of the upper strata of society, who exercised power, and maintained class boundaries. In class states, many aspects of public life were regulated: everyday, religious, economic, economic, etc. However, such a system was not completely alien to the nature of civil society. The class social order allowed society to maintain a certain independence from the state, despite the fact that the political expression of the medieval mode of production was privileges, and the rights were unequal for each feudal class. And such top-down feudal structures, which clearly consolidated social inequality, were replaced by horizontal non-power connections based on the contractual principles of free individuals and legal equality.
Civil society is essentially bourgeois in its essence. Its basis is the legally free individual. The separation of civil society from the state developed in the process of eradicating class inequality and denationalization of social relations.
The formation of a representative state, which acted on behalf of the entire population, marked the beginning of this process. This required legislative recognition of the legal equality of people on the basis of vesting them with rights and freedoms. The replacement of class inequality with legal universal equality determined the new social position of the individual. Now every person, despite his social and property status, was recognized as a full and equal participant in public life, endowed with will.
During the conflict in the state and in society, which was resolved during the revolutions of the 17th-18th centuries and subsequent reforms, society became isolated from the comprehensive power of the state. This conflict was a consequence of the historical transition from absolutist power systems to constitutional ones. This transition itself reflected the emergence of new political, socio-economic and cultural realities. They were brought to life by commodity-money relations, the emergence of a layer of independent commodity producers, the secularization of individual and mass consciousness, the crisis of the legitimacy of absolutist regimes, the industrial revolution, the emergence of political parties, which became an important channel for transmitting various kinds of interests of various groups.
The real functioning of civil society began with the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in France and bills of rights in the USA and England. In fact legal right does not imply actual rights, it means only equality of opportunity, but it creates conditions for the manifestation of talents, abilities and initiative of the individual. Human freedom is closely related to his material well-being, freedom of entrepreneurial activity, and the presence of private property. Private property, in addition to the economic basis of civil society, is also a factor in political, cultural and moral progress.
Russian philosopher I.A. Ilyin (1882-1954) revealed the importance of private property in the formation of a person’s civic consciousness. He believed that private property should correspond to the individual way of being that is given to man by nature. In addition, it also reveals personal initiative and economic entrepreneurship; teaches a person to be creative in his work; involving in property relations, unites the family; gives the owner a feeling of confidence; awakens and educates legal consciousness in people; creates the state instinct of man; forms in him a sense of civic independence; develops a correct approach to political freedom.
Thus, main basis and the main feature of civil society is the legislative consolidation of the legal equality of people on the basis of endowing them with freedoms and rights. And the maturity of civil society can be judged by the degree of implementation and guarantee of human and civil rights by the state. The independence of society and the individual contributes to the establishment of mechanisms of self-development and self-regulation, the formation of a sphere in non-power relations of free individuals who have the ability and actual opportunity to exercise their inalienable rights, freedom of political choice, and also act as the only legitimate source of power.
3. The formation of civil society in Russia
3.1 History of the development of civil society in Russia
In Russia, the formation of civil society began much later than in the USA and Western Europe. The emergence of civil society began in the second half of the 19th century during the reforms of Alexander II. For example, such as local government reform, abolition of serfdom, as well as judicial, administrative reform and others. Thanks to this, the necessary processes of modernization of Russian society were accelerated. With the development of bourgeois relations, banks and large industrial enterprises and other subjects of capitalist relations. They formed the economic basis of civil society. Various educational, medical and other institutions received a new impetus for development. Accordingly, this helped to normalize Russian society and stimulated the growth of institutions of social self-organization.
During the formation of civil society great importance had the formation of elected local government bodies, relatively independent from the state. These governing bodies were mainly in charge of affairs local significance. Some rights were transferred from public administration departments to self-government bodies, which became one of the most important structural elements of civil society.
The judicial reform of 1864 proclaimed such principles as the separation of administrative and judicial powers, equality of everyone before the law, openness and competitiveness of the process, independence of the legal profession, irremovability of judges, and the creation of a jury. Liberal judicial statutes were also introduced. The process of formation of the middle class - the social base of civil society - began after the reforms of the 60s. XIX century. However, all this is only the initial stage on the path to civil society. The new Emperor Alexander III published the 1881 manifesto “On the Inviolability of Autocracy”
The era of sharp inhibition of liberalization processes in the social system has begun - the era of reaction.
The next period in the development of civil society institutions falls on 1900-1914. It was during these years that a multi-party system began to take shape, in which political parties were subjects of civil society, since they were independent of state power and sought to realize their political goals.
At the beginning of the 20th century, some elements of civil society existed in Russia: voluntary public organizations and independent printed publications. Their main goal was to create in the country a social and ideological atmosphere that would force the authorities to carry out reforms. I. I Kalnoy et al. Civil society: origins and modernity / Scientific. ed. prof. I. I. Kalnoy, associate professor I. N. Lopushansky. 3rd ed., revised. and additional - St. Petersburg: Publishing house of R. Aslanov “Legal Center Press”. -- 492 pp., 2006
Many voluntary societies were forced to take responsibility for solving professional problems, which often pushed them towards demands that had political overtones. Since 1902, teachers' societies in some provinces demanded increased salaries, guarantees against arbitrary dismissals, greater autonomy in matters of school management and representation in zemstvo education committees. Gromov M. N., Kozlov N. S.. Russian philosophical thought X--XVII centuries: Textbook. manual.--M.: Moscow State University Publishing House.-- 288 pp., 1990
The Revolution of 1905 forced tsarism to make serious changes in the country's political system. Through the activities of elected legislative institutions and a multi-party system, four State Dumas(1906-1917), Russia received its first taste of parliamentarism.
The First World War exacerbated all contradictions and led to revolutionary change political system.
Gave a strong impetus to the further development of civil society February Revolution 1917 As a result of this, democratic institutions began to develop in our country, such as: institutions of freedom of speech, religion, organizations, and meetings. Many political and non-political organizations emerged. The strong growth in social activity of the masses influenced the development of institutions of public self-government. But since state power was weak, it was unable to streamline this process. The threat of anarchy hangs over our state.
The situation was radically changed by the October Revolution of 1917. Authoritarian methods of managing the economy and public life were used in the country, and strict centralized power was established. Various political organizations and institutions lost their significance because their action was carried out under strict ideological and political state control. There was also a liquidation of private property, i.e. foundations of economic independence of citizens. Totalitarianism gradually took shape in the country, which blocked the very possibility of the development of civil society. Under such a regime, the existence of civil society is impossible. The party nomenklatura, which became the actual owner of the means of production, constituted the party class. The remaining population was turned into dependent government workers. There was an equalization of all members of society before the all-powerful state machine. And such a term as “civil society” was destroyed from the Soviet state, legal and political vocabulary. Organizations such as trade unions, various cooperatives and Komsomols, creative unions, in Soviet period They lost much of their independence, since they were part of the official state structures of the party machine. Although in other conditions they could help the formation of civil society.
The term “civil society” regained its relevance in the 80s. XX century. The transformations in Russia that began in 1985 were aimed at creating the preconditions for civil society.
In the second half of the 80s. As a result of socio-economic and political reforms, great changes have occurred in Russia. Numerous elite groups changed the party nomenklatura. This elite itself has lost a significant part of the levers of power that were characteristic of the old ruling class. The current situation led to a gradual transition from political and ideological methods of management to economic ones.
On social structure The transformation of the institutions of Russian society had a serious impact. Attitudes towards power and property have undergone changes, new social groups have emerged, for example, the entrepreneurial structure, and the level and quality of each social group, the mechanism of social stratification was rebuilt. All of the above stimulated the creation of the foundations of civil society in Russia and reflected the diversity of interests of representatives of various groups and strata of society.
The redistribution of property through privatization provided an opportunity for the formation of a middle class in Russia. Through privatization, private individuals were given the opportunity to acquire ownership of part of state property. The working classes now have the right to lease state property and to acquire industrial, commercial, and service facilities on a joint-stock basis.
A new positive period in the formation of civil society in our country began after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Russia at the end of the twentieth century began the path of modernization of society, which consists in the country’s transition from a totalitarian to a rule of law state, to a civil society.
After a long break in the development of civil society in Russia (from October 1917 to the 1990s), a period of rapid reforms began in all areas of the country's life.
Over the course of several years of reform, numerous political parties, popular fronts, organizations, unions, associations, centers, unions, foundations, and movements have emerged in our state, meeting all the characteristics of civil society. They appeared in all spheres of public life: economic, social, political, spiritual, etc.
The real signs of an existing civil society are the election of government representatives, real transparency in the expenditure of budget funds, the weakening of the role of officials in governing the country, including the transfer of their functions to public organizations.
3. 2 Ways to establish civil society inmodern Russia
A free society is built only when the majority is interested in it. Creating conditions so that the greatest number of citizens can benefit from freedom is the responsibility of the state. Every person has the right to freedom equally, regardless of whether he is rich or poor. And the latter should have a chance to get it. It is precisely these ideas that are now shared by political forces whose guidelines are aimed at carrying out reforms in the interests of the majority of the population, and not the privileged minority.
Civil society is a society of equal opportunities, which are based on the principles of social justice and solidarity between the strong and the weak. This can only mean that a free society in Russia must exist not only under the condition of emancipation of private initiative, but also with a developed system of social support.
According to the Russian scientist S. Peregudov, the development of civil society in Russia depends on two players: “on the state and business, which in Russian conditions, in fact, predetermine both the paths of development of civil society and the models of its political participation.” Peregudov S.P. Civil society as a subject of public policy // Polis. 2006. No. 2.
Building a free society is possible only within the framework of a stable political system, which presupposes the active role of the state in creating an economic order and the absence of arbitrariness. After all, the market is not the goal itself, but, first of all, a means of achieving prosperity and freedom for all Russian citizens. The task of the state is not to force, but to orient the market towards achieving social goals.
The contradiction between Russian society and the state is relevant in modern Russia. The essence of this contradiction is as follows: the existing need for organization Everyday life, which should be regulated by norms understandable to citizens, contradicts one-sided dependence on social institutions that use government powers to arbitrarily regulate civil rights. This conflict affects not only the majority of citizens of our country, but also affects activists public organizations.
Authorities can independently guide people’s behavior due not only to their knowledge of legal norms, but also due to their monopoly on their interpretation. The vagueness of legal norms is one of the main resources that allows you to control the private life of citizens. In our country even now there is no space for private life that would be protected civil rights and is limited to the social duties of a person, due to the lack of rule of law. And the more conventional the boundaries of such a space, the wider the reproduction of various practices of concealing misconduct, income, and crimes.
Thanks to a certain system of guarantees from the state, civil society has the right to its existence and political significance. This is precisely the interdependence of civil society and the rule of law. The development of such a state, which is a prerequisite for the existence of a democratic system, contains not only the self-evident division of powers into three branches, but also a complementary division between the state and civil society.
In order to create a democratic rule-of-law state in Russia, it is sufficient to ensure the full implementation of the current Constitution. Currently in Russia the following problems can be noted that are an obstacle to the establishment of a rule of law state:
Equality of citizens and organizations before the law and the courts is not ensured. This is evidenced, in particular, by the selective application of the law for political purposes, as well as the dependence of the court on the executive branch;
The electoral rights of citizens are violated, in particular, through the use of administrative resources;
Political parties have not yet gained access to power, and the victory of any of them in the elections does not mean the possibility of implementing its program;
Public organizations and movements expressing oppositional sentiments are pushed to the margins of political life or made dependent on government structures. This is evidenced, for example, by the forced re-registration of public organizations in 2001 and other attempts to put them under control at both the federal and regional levels;
Freedom of speech and the press is called into question - through various forms of pressure on the media that are objectionable to the authorities;
Freedom of enterprise is only declared, but not actually implemented by the authorities due to the dominance of the corrupt bureaucracy;
Unequal conditions of access to education, healthcare and culture remain, which limits the freedom of personal development;
The guarantees of local self-government are not observed due to the financial dependence and administrative pressure of regional government bodies. Evtushenko M.V. Formation of civil society in modern Russia // Society: Politics, Economics, Law. 2008. No. 2
A rule-of-law state is possible only if the government itself abides by the laws. Russian modern society far from civil, since it remains only an inactive object of manipulation by the authorities.
Recognition of civil, political and social rights as an integral part of society;
Creation of numerous organizations, associations and institutions, supporting their diversity;
Activities of the media in conditions of freedom and pluralism;
Financial support for political parties, their independence from the state;
Creation of a simplified legislative framework for the establishment of all kinds of funds and other charitable instruments for the development of small businesses;
Providing self-government to the main institutions (church, universities, arts, etc.);
Implementation of the principle of subsidiarity, that is, transfer of the right to make decisions and delegation of responsibility to the level at which these decisions will be implemented. Evtushenko M.V. Formation of civil society in modern Russia // Society: Politics, Economics, Law. 2008. No. 2
The formation of civil society is experiencing a number of difficulties. These include not only the collapse of traditional norms and socio-cultural ties, but also the emergence of too high material and status expectations. And these expectations, especially in the early stages of the formation of civil society, could not be realized, since they were formed from an archaic spiritual and psychological warehouse based on the Russian mentality. These features became the basis for personal and collective expectations of a return to traditional forms of hostel life.
Civil society consists of free people who are ready to unite to solve problems only in cases where they affect their interests. That is, it should be said that people create collectives consciously, and this speaks of real community, in contrast to collectives created under the control of the state and aimed purely at expressing state interests, and not their personal ones. In civil society, a person has the right to calmly leave the team without fear of any sanctions being applied to him. Therefore, for the formation of a civil society, a free individual is needed, a consolidated personality who has his own private interest and actively advocates for its implementation. And the freedom of a given person is limited only by the norms of law and morality, and not by state, collective and other interests. The creation of just such an individual is necessary for Russia in the conditions of democratization of society.
To strengthen the civic principle and weaken state paternalism (i.e., a system of relations based on patronage), a mechanism such as self-regulation is formed, the primary tasks of demonopolization of the economy, privatization, denationalization are resolved, i.e. resolve issues of real transition to a market economy.
V. Putin says that it is necessary to continue working on the formation of a full-fledged, capable civil society. “Without a mature civil society,” he argues, “it is impossible to effectively solve people’s pressing problems.” Address of the President of Russia to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. May 26, 2004 And in fact, only a free person is able to ensure economic growth and, ultimately, the prosperity of the state. Therefore, the emergence of civil society is impossible without a free-thinking, active, dynamic citizen. In today's society, the legitimacy of power is ensured by the passivity of citizens, and not through real consent with government rule. Such inactivity of people leads to strengthening of power, state powers are expanded at the expense of the rights and freedoms of citizens.
A citizen is a person who has civic dignity and courage, he is always ready to defend the fundamental, inalienable values of an open society, and, if necessary, to fight for them.
In its essence, civil society has an ethno-regional character, and this is especially clearly felt in Eurasian multi-ethnic Russia. The gap in the degree of maturity and level of development of civil relations in different regions is too great. This circumstance complicates the development of the civil process in the political space of modern Russia, which is still going through the process of creating the conditions, or foundations, for the formation of civil society. One of the development options
In this context, Russia is offered a course towards a sustainable democratic order, which includes the rule of law, social market economy, civil society, modern security system and post-industrial strategy within the framework of the European development path. Evtushenko M.V. Formation of civil society in modern Russia // Society: Politics, Economics, Law. 2008. No. 2
Conclusion
Civil society is a human community that is formed and constantly develops in democratic states. It is represented by: 1) the connection of voluntarily formed non-state structures (associations, organizations, associations, etc.) in all spheres of society;
2) a set of non-state relations - economic, political, social, spiritual, religious and others.
Civil society is an environment in which modern man legally satisfies his needs, develops his individuality, and comes to realize the value of group actions and social solidarity.
Civil society is often identified with the sphere of private interests and needs. Man by nature has the desire to live in a community of people, but at the same time he also has the tendency to do things his own way.
It goes without saying that in realizing his inclination he encounters opposition from other individuals who also strive to do everything in their own way. But in order not to destroy life fundamentals society and created human civilization, civil society and the state with their most important institutions, defining them as the goal of achieving harmony between various interests, which, as historical experience shows, has always remained an unattainable ideal, a dream, but often embodied in a specific historical compromise that saves societies from mutual extermination.
Thus, civil society is a certain milestone in the progressive development of human society. It acts as an intermediary between the individual and society, forms a personality who recognizes himself as the owner of inalienable rights and freedoms and bears responsibility to society for his activities and behavior.
The main essential features of civil society are the economic, social, political and spiritual freedom of its members, their right and ability to independently solve their economic and socio-political problems. Civil society is a self-organization of citizens, independent of the state and existing alongside it, representing a set, a variety of forms of independent activity of people and serving to satisfy their needs and interests.
Currently, trends in the development of civil society have emerged in our country, but in Russia the process of its emergence cannot proceed as it did in other countries, for a number of reasons. Due to the ambiguity of the current situation, various problems arise in the formation of civil society characteristic of the Russian region, such as interaction with the media, education, volunteer movement and others. Special attention was devoted to the volunteer movement. In my opinion, this problem is the most significant, because the process of forming a civil society cannot start from the top. The foundation of society in the general sense of the word, and civil society in particular, is the people who make it up.
Society will be the way everyone imagines it special person, a member of this society.
Bibliography
1. N. I. Matuzov, A. V. Malko. Theory of State and Law. Lawyer, 2004
2. Ilyin M. Koval V. Two sides of the same coin: civil society and the rule of law // Polis.-1992-No. 1-2.
3. T.V. Kashanina, A.V. Kashanin. Fundamentals of Russian law. M., 1997.
4. S.G. Drobyazko, B.C. Kozlov. General theory of law: textbook. manual for universities. - 2nd ed., corrected. and additional - Minsk: Amalthea. - 2007
5. I. I Kalnoy et al. Civil society: origins and modernity / Scientific. ed. prof. I. I. Kalnoy, associate professor I. N. Lopushansky. 3rd ed., revised. and additional - St. Petersburg: Publishing house of R. Aslanov “Legal Center Press”. -- 492 pp., 2006
6. Gromov M.N., Kozlov N.S.. Russian philosophical thought of the X-XVII centuries: Textbook. manual.--M.: Moscow State University Publishing House.-- 288 pp., 1990
7. Evtushenko M.V. Formation of civil society in modern Russia // Society: Politics, Economics, Law. 2008. No. 2
8. Vengerov A.B. Theory of State and Law: Textbook for Law Schools. - 3rd ed. - M.: Jurisprudence, 2000
9. Komarov S.A. General theory of state and law: Course of lectures - 2nd ed., revised, additional. - M., 1995 - 312
10. Lazarev V.V. Theory of State and Law: Textbook - M.: Law and Law, 1996
11. Hegel G.V.F. Philosophy of law. M., 1990.
12. Marx K., Engels F., L. Feuerbach. The opposition of materialistic and idealistic views // New publication of the first chapter of “German Ideology”. M., 1966. P. 51.
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