Civil Society: Concept and Reality. Civil Society: Country Examples. Examples of the formation, manifestation of civil society in Russia Civil society arises as a result of

One of the main tasks of any democratic state in modern world is to achieve consensus among citizens. This is possible only if the interests of various social groups are respected and there is a possibility of reaching civil accord. Civil society plays the main role in consolidating and connecting state and personal interests. This concept is quite broad, and in this article we will try to understand it.

What is civil society

Very often, the development of the state itself directly depends on the level at which the civil society is located. To understand the essence of this concept, it is necessary to give a definition. Civil society is a system of social relations and institutions that are not state. These include formal and informal structures providing conditions for the political and social activity of a person.

In addition, civil society is also the satisfaction and implementation of various needs and interests of individuals, social groups and associations. It usually exists in two dimensions: social and institutional.

If we talk about the social component, then this is a historical experience, which, as it were, outlines the limits of possible actions of all participants in the political process. The experience can be both collective and individual. It determines the behavior of the individual in the political arena, the way of thinking and some other aspects of interpersonal relations.

If we imagine that civil society is an institutional dimension, then it can be characterized as a set of organizations that express the interests of various segments of the population. In addition, they are trying to implement them independently of the state.

Thus, the concept civil society rather broad, and different political scientists interpret it differently.

Civil Society Principles

Any society has its own convictions, civil in this regard is no exception. It operates on the basis of the following principles:

Signs of civil society

Society does not depend on the state and has its own developed economic, political, legal and cultural relations between its members, therefore it is characterized by certain features. The main ones are as follows:

• People's consciousness is at a high level.
• There is material security, which is based on the ownership of property.
• All members of society have close ties with each other.
• There is a state-controlled power, which is represented by hired workers who have the appropriate competence and ability to solve the problems of society.
• Power is decentralized.
• Some of the power is transferred to self-government bodies.
• Any conflicts in society should be resolved by finding compromises.
• There is a real sense of collectivity, provided by the awareness of belonging to one culture, nation.
• The personality of society is a person who is focused on spirituality and the creation of everything new.

It is also worth mentioning that a developed democracy can and should be included in the signs of a civil society. It is impossible to build a modern society without it. In almost any state, society has its own distinctive characteristics.

The structure of civil society

Society also differs in that it has its own structure, which necessarily includes public organizations and institutions. Their task is to ensure and create conditions for the realization of the interests of citizens and the needs of entire teams.

In addition, the structure of civil society also includes some subsystem elements, which include:

• National movements and nations.
• Classes.
• Social strata of society (eg retirees, students).
• Political parties or movements.
• Mass social movements (e.g. trade union organizations, advocates environment, animal protectors, etc.).
• Religious organizations.
• Community organizations (dog lovers, teetotal society or beer lovers).
• Various unions or associations, which may include entrepreneurs, bankers.
• The consumer society, which includes all of us.
• Any team in production, in educational institutions.
• The family is the unit of our society, therefore it is also part of its structure.

It often happens that even outstanding personalities can fulfill the functions of a separate element of society. These include the following: A. Sakharov, A. Solzhenitsyn, D. Likhachev and others.

Functions of civil society

Any organization, association performs its specific functions. This also applies to civil society. Among the main functions are the following:

1. The production of norms and values ​​that the state approves by its sanctions.
2. The formation of the environment in which the formation of the individual takes place.
3. Creation of conditions for the free development of the individual on the basis of various forms of ownership.
4. Regulation and control of all structures of society and their relationship with each other using civil law. This allows you to avoid or overcome various conflicts and develop certain policies in the interests of the whole society.
5. Protection of the rights of each person and his interests by creating an extensive system of legal mechanisms.
6. Large-scale self-government in all spheres of public life.

The relationship between society and the state

The state and civil society are in constant interaction. Society turns to the state with its initiatives, proposals, interests and requirements, most often requiring support, and above all material support.

The state, in turn, meets halfway in different ways, these can be:

• Consideration of initiatives and their support or disapproval.
• Allocation of funds for the development of organizations or foundations.

In almost any state, there are bodies of power in the power structures that deal with public relations. This relationship can be in different forms, for example, registering new organizations and providing them with assistance, creating conditions for material support.

In addition to special bodies, there is another form of contact between society and the state. This is when representatives of civil society are members of commissions, councils that work in the government. For example, deputies, experts and narrow professionals possessing valuable information concerning the development of society.

If we consider in detail the interaction of society and the state, then we can draw certain conclusions:

1. Civil and legal society is a powerful lever in the system of limiting the desire of political power for domination. For this, participation in election campaigns is used. As well as the formation of public opinion with the help of independent media.
2. Civil society constantly needs government support. That is why many representatives of organizations take an active part in the work of government agencies. Despite the fact that most organizations are self-forming and independent, they still interact with the state in various forms.
3. It has a keen interest in good relations with society.

The concept of civil society is too broad and ambitious, but it necessarily implies close interaction with government agencies. It is very important for a democratic state that these relationships are trusting and close, this is the only way to have economic and political stability.

Civil society and its institutions

As we have already found out, the main element of any society is a person. Therefore, all groups and organizations should contribute to the all-round development of the individual and the realization of his interests.

Civil society institutions can be divided into several groups:

1. Organizations in which a person receives everything he needs to satisfy his vital needs, for example, food, food, housing. These can be trade union organizations, industrial or consumer unions.
2. The second group of institutions includes the family, church, sports organizations, and creative unions. In them, the individual satisfies his spiritual needs, physical.
3. Political parties and movements satisfy the need for governance.

Thus, the implementation of all the interests of citizens is carried out by the institutions of civil society. The boundaries of these rights and freedoms are precisely its main features.

Characteristic features of modern civil society

Today, civil society is characteristic, which has the following characteristics:

• There is still no integral and unified system of civil structures. You can also talk about the weak legal protection of citizens.
• In society, you can see the division of people into the poor and the rich, the elite and the common people, representatives of the authorities and everyone else.
• Weak social basis of society. It is estimated that the middle class occupies from 16 to 30% of all citizens.
• The uniting cultural values ​​do not have a vivid expression: respect for the individual, solidarity, trust and others.
• Citizens in most cases are passive and do not want to take part in the political and public life of the state.
• Organizations either weakly or ineffectively influence the authorities.
• Still in the stage of formation legal basis civil society.
• The appearance of society as a whole is influenced by both historical development and modern features.
• The process of the formation of civil society in Russia cannot yet be called complete. This is a very long journey. Many citizens simply do not realize the role of society in the life of the state and their own.

Big problem on this moment is the alienation of many organizations, groups, institutions from the state.

Global open society

Global civil society is already an international sphere of manifestation of citizens' initiatives, their unification on a voluntary basis in an organization. This area does not lend itself to intervention and regulation by the state. Such a society is the main base for the development of civilization and a kind of regulator not only of the economy, but also of politics in all world countries.

An open global society has its own characteristics:

1. There is a rapid change of officials based on public opinion.
2. The same can be said about the elite of society.
3. Availability of accessible media outlets that are not subject to government censorship.
4. The presence of social networks in which citizens can influence each other.
5. Public opinion depends on the assessments of citizens.
6. All rights and freedoms are realizable, not just on paper.
7. Self-government is at a high level.
8. The state is pursuing a correct social policy.
9. The middle class also has weight in society.
10. Public organizations exercise control over state structures.

Thus, we can say that a global society is one in which the state does not dominate in the relations of citizens.

Society and its development

If we talk about the development of civil society, then we can safely say that it is not finished yet. This applies not only to our country, but also to all other world states.

Most political scientists argue that the formation of civil society began in antique times, for example, in Greece, Rome, there were separate elements of society. Trade and crafts were developing, this led to the emergence of commodity-money industries, which were consolidated in Roman private law.

If we talk about European regions, then there are several stages in the development of society:

1. The first stage can be attributed to the 16-17 centuries. At this time, political, economic, ideological prerequisites for the development of civil society began to appear. This is the rapid development of industry, trade, the division of labor, the development of commodity-money relations, an ideological revolution, the formation of culture and art.
2. The second stage starts from the 17th and continues until the 19th century. This period was marked by the formation of civil society in the most developed countries in the form of capitalism, which was based on private entrepreneurship.
3. The 20th century is the beginning of the third stage of development, which continues to this day.

If we talk about the development of civil society in Russia at the present time, then a number of features can be noted:

• Our society is not sufficiently developed political culture.
• Many citizens lack social responsibility.
• Initially, Russia belonged to those countries that are more oriented towards the state than society. Such stereotypes are difficult to correct.
• There is no powerful social stratum that would be able to lead the social movement, therefore the main role in this is assigned to the state.

The formation of a civil society is a long and almost continuous process in which both citizens and the state take an active and equal part. If it is possible to form a modern legal civil society, then the state will be forced to obey the laws and serve for the benefit of citizens.

a society consisting of independent, self-sufficient individuals with fundamental rights and freedoms; a system of voluntary, self-governing communities of people created to achieve their own goals and interests, to realize their abilities and talents: family, economic associations, professional, sports, creative, confessional unions and associations, etc.

Civil relations include the sphere of non-commercial life: family-related, compatriot, upbringing, educational, religious, moral, commodity-money, etc., connecting people with joint activities to meet material and spiritual needs.

G.O. complements the power hierarchical relations, approved by the state, horizontal relations, acting on the basis of the principle of self-regulation.

G.O. - a society of pluralism in the economy (multi-structure, variety of forms of ownership), politics (multi-party system, competitive elections), spiritual life (freedom of speech, conscience, religion).

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CIVIL SOCIETY

includes the whole set of non-political relations in society, that is, economic, spiritual and moral, family and household, religious, demographic, national, etc. Thus, G.o. a multidimensional, self-organizing system, intermediate between the family and the state, this is a naturally emerging social, not political relationship between individuals. In the system of civil society, everyone acts not as a government official, but as a private person who has his own special goals in life that differ from national goals. In the formal and structural aspect, G.O. is a set of voluntary associations, unions, organizations that allow individuals to communicate on the basis of similar spiritual and practical interests. It does not allow citizens to become like the scattering of autonomous atoms and offers many forms of social cooperation, encourages various manifestations of human solidarity. G.O. - a rather late historical education, characteristic of the Western civilization of modern times. Its emergence presupposed two main conditions - the transition of the traditional feudal society to the industrial phase of development and the emergence of mass generations of emancipated citizens who are aware of the inalienability of their natural rights. Implementing bottom-up social initiatives, G.O. provides self-regulation processes within the civilization system. It complements the vertical power relations, as established by the state, with horizontal relations that operate on the basis of the principle of self-regulation. The state and the individual, which at first seem to be incomparable social values, in the presence of a developed geography. acquire value equality. Not encouraging either statist arbitrariness or legal nihilism of individuals, G.O. contributes to the strengthening of social order, gives it such a quality as civilization. Consequently, G.o. it is the sphere of self-manifestation and self-development of the interests of free individuals, as well as voluntarily formed associations, non-governmental organizations of citizens.In democratic countries, civil society is protected by the necessary laws from direct interference, control and arbitrary regulation on the part of state authorities. Today, civil society is one of the central categories of social philosophy, denoting that part of social life in which the non-state and the most active economic, social, spiritual life of people is concentrated and in which their "natural" rights and freedoms are realized, the equality of different subjects of activity, especially on market space, where all participants, regardless of any differences, enter into free and equal relations with each other. From this point of view, civil society is opposed to the state, whose task is to resolve by political (or, in extreme situations, military) means of conflicts between civil society actors and ensure its normal functioning.

The concept of civil society was formed in the course of the development of world political thought. The first clear ideas about civil society were expressed by N. Machiavelli, T. Hobbes and J. Locke. The ideas of natural rights as a model of status and moral equality of people, as well as a social contract as a way to control the achievement of consent, formed the basis of the modern understanding of civil society.

The creation of civil society meant the liberation of private life, family and business from the rule of the state. At the same time, the individual received freedom of religion; everyday life got out of political tutelage; individual interest, especially in matters of private property and commercial activity, received the support of the law. The presence of a mature civil society means respect for inalienable natural human rights, recognition of their moral equality. The central issue was the relationship between the "sovereign state" and the "sovereign people", which represented the legitimate basis of state power. The system of checks and balances ensured finding a balance between the branches of government, between society and the state, freedom and responsibility, power and law. The state was not simply expelled from private life, the economy, spiritual life, but, on the contrary, was placed under control by society, which was exercised, in particular, on the ability of the authorities to ensure the security of these areas and their freedom, to suppress, even through legitimate violence, any claims, to exert on They are also pressured by non-state structures, for example, criminals, monopolies, etc.

The idea of ​​building a civil society belongs to the liberal thought of the 18th century, which still does not separate civil liberties from the problems of morality and social equality. Later, the concept of civil society retains a positive attitude towards the freedoms of citizens, their rights and obligations in relation to the state. The state, for its part, is interpreted as expressing the interests of citizens. Civil society includes the separation of the public and private spheres and, at the same time, their interaction. On the basis of this principle, women were involved in the public sphere, although previously only a man was understood as an autonomous and responsible individual.

Today, Western social theories have a set of empirical features without which a society cannot be called good. The Good Society concept is based on the idea of ​​civil society and expands its boundaries. The "good society" is not a reality, but a theoretical tool for analyzing the achievements of humanity in social sphere and their conceptualization at the level of empirical generalizations. The inalienable features include: freedom and human rights, a person's ability to be responsible in freedom, to strive not only for negative freedom-freedom "from" (coercion, dependence), but also for positive freedom - freedom "for" (self-realization, implementation of one's plans , setting social goals, etc.); the attainability of a minimum of social and natural benefits; the presence of a social order. This is the order of civil society. The classic term of philosophy, political science and legal science until the 60s. 20th century meant a society that is able to bring the state under control. In the 60s. lawyer R. Naider organized a society for the protection of consumers and made a theoretical expansion of this concept. This is a society that is capable of bringing under control not only the state, but also wealth. Similar attempts were made earlier in Wilson's antitrust legislation, in antitrust policy, but were not conceptualized in terms of civil society. Before this idea was proclaimed in America, the phrase was popular: "What's good for General Motors is good for America." R. Naider questioned this thesis. Despite the fact that society cannot exist without the state as an organ of legitimate violence, it is taken under control in civil society. The same should happen with corporations. This new doctrine, which operates in the United States up to certain limits (through the consumer society advocacy service, better service bureaus, consumer courts, etc.), takes into account not only civil liberties and the rights of the individual, but also economic rights that belong to the classical liberalism is more likely to benefit.

Lit .: Modern liberalism. M., 1998; Held D. Models of Democracy. Stanford, 1987; Held D. Prospects for Democracy. North, South, East, West. Stanford, 1993; Isaac K. Civies for Democracy. Wash. 1992; Liberalism and the Good, ed. by R. B. Douglass, G. M. Mare, H. S. Richardson. N. Y.-L. 1990; PelcynskiZ. A. The state and Civil Society. N. W., 1984.

Excellent definition

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Real freedom of the individual becomes possible in a society of true democracy, where not the state, political power dominates society and its members, but society has unconditional primacy over the state. The transition to such a society is a historically long process, and it is associated with the formation of a civil society.

What is "civil society?" What are its internal mechanisms that allow the development of economic, socio-cultural, political relations in the regime of democracy, respect for the human person, guaranteeing its rights and freedoms?

To answer this question, one should, first of all, pay attention to the fact that between the concept of "civil society" and the concept of the same order of "society" there is not only an obvious relationship, but also very significant differences. Society as a set of relations between people becomes civil only at a certain stage of its development - maturity, under certain conditions. In this regard, the adjective “civil”, despite some of its ambiguity, has a very specific and very capacious content. The category of civil society reflects a new qualitative state of society, based on the developed forms of its self-organization and self-regulation, on the optimal combination of public (state-public) and private (individual-personal) interests with the decisive importance of the latter and with the unconditional recognition of a person as the highest value of such a society , his rights and freedoms. Therefore, civil society is opposed not only by a “non-civil” society, that is, by a society that does not possess the qualities of a civil society, but by a society of violent suppression of the individual, state total control over the social and personal life of its members.

The term "civil society" itself is used in both broad and narrow meanings. In a broad sense, civil society includes the entire part of society that is not directly covered by the state and its structures, i.e. what the state “does not reach”. It arises and changes in the course of natural historical development as an autonomous sphere, not directly dependent on the state. Civil society in a broad sense is compatible not only with democracy, but also with authoritarianism, and only totalitarianism means its complete, and more often partial, absorption by political power.

Civil society in a narrow, proper meaning is inextricably linked with the rule of law, they do not exist without each other. Civil society is a variety of non-state-mediated relationships of free and equal individuals in a market and democratic legal statehood. This is the sphere of the free play of private interests and individualism. Civil society is a product of the bourgeois era and is formed mainly from below, spontaneously, as a result of the emancipation of individuals, their transformation from subjects of the state into free citizens of owners who have a sense of personal dignity and are ready to take on economic and political responsibility.

Civil society has complex structure, includes economic, economic, family-related, ethnic, religious and legal relationship, morality, as well as political relations not mediated by the state between individuals as primary subjects of power, parties, interest groups, etc. In civil society, in contrast to state structures, it is not vertical (subordination) that prevail, but horizontal ties - relations of competition and solidarity between legally free and equal partners.

The historical process of the formation of civil society thus characterizes the difficult path of humanity's ascent from various forms of oppression, political dictatorship and state totalitarianism to real democracy in social relations, to real freedom of the individual. It is no coincidence that the first scientific concepts of civil society that arose in the XVIII - early XIX centuries, they paid attention to such characteristics as the presence of a certain sphere of public (first of all - property, market and economic), family, moral and ethical, religious relations, relatively independent from the state. In this regard, the initial understanding of civil society was based, in essence, on the opposition of the sphere of public and private interests: if the embodiment of the former is the state organization of society, then the latter should receive their realization in an independent, autonomous civil society, i.e., the private sphere people's lives. In itself, the posing of the question of civil society as a specific sphere of non-political, private life of citizens, independent of state power, historically had, of course, progressive significance. She played an important role in the establishment of a new, bourgeois constitutional system based on the principles of inviolability of sacred private property, non-interference of the state in the sphere of free enterprise, the elements of market competition, as well as in the sphere of personal, family life members of civil society. The formation of bourgeois society meant the transformation of commodity relations into a universal method of social ties of individuals, when the feudal estates and their state and legal privileges were replaced by the formal legal equality of citizens. "This completed the process of separating political life from civil society."(K. Marx). As a result, civil society also acquired an independent existence, independent of political power.

The concept of "civil society" appeared in modern times in the works of T. Hobbes, J. Locke, C. Montesquieu and others.

The concept of civil society in the works of these thinkers was based on the ideas of natural law and social contract. From the point of view of these thinkers, man as a rational being strives for freedom. He wants to dispose of his personality, to be aware of himself as the owner of his life rights. The social contract, the unification of people into society assumed both the transfer of their rights to society (the state), and the restriction of the state power itself in the interests of realizing the freedom of citizens. Civil society is the result of a contract, an agreement that implies a relationship of reciprocity, voluntariness between the state and the citizen. According to Locke, the natural community of people turns into a civil society when "any number of people are so united into one society that each of them abandons his executive power, inherent in him by the law of nature, and transfers it to society."

At the same time, modern thinkers identified with civil society not every state, but only one that expresses the interests of citizens. Taking these interests into account, creating conditions for their free realization are an indispensable condition for the effective development of society. An emphasis on protecting private interests was characteristic of the works of the English economist A. Smith. The "system of natural freedom" developed by A. Smith proved the need to eliminate state interference in private property entrepreneurship, provide complete freedom for the development of private initiative, "unnatural" any state control of individual economic freedom of citizens, which created the necessary conditions for the unrestricted development of commodity-money market relations. Thus, a solid economic foundation was laid for the classical model of an emerging civil society, the main requirements of which were private property, a market economy, and the economic independence of people.

Special merit in the development of the concept of civil society in its interdependence with the state belongs to Hegel. Based on the systematization of the entire legacy of French, Anglo-Saxon and German socio-political thought, Hegel came to the conclusion that civil society represents a special stage in the dialectical movement from family to state in the process of a long and complex historical transformation from the Middle Ages to the New Age. "Civil society," he wrote, "is a differentiation that appears between the family and the state, although the development of civil society comes later than the development of the state."

According to Hegel, the social life characteristic of civil society is radically different from the ethical world of the family and the public life of the state. Civil society includes a market economy, social classes, corporations, institutions, whose task is to ensure the viability of society and the implementation of civil law. Civil society is a complex of individuals, classes, groups and institutions, the interaction of which is governed by civil law and which, as such, do not directly depend on the political state itself.

Thus, Hegel came to the conclusion that there is a sphere not only of "general" and political interests, but also of private, more precisely, private property interests. He defined this area as the area of ​​"civil society".

As Hegel noted, unlike the family, the many components of civil society are often disparate, unstable, and prone to serious conflict. It resembles a hectic battlefield where private interests clash with other private interests. Moreover, the overdevelopment of some elements of civil society can lead to the suppression of other elements. Therefore, civil society cannot remain “civil” as long as it is not governed politically under the supervision of the state. Only the supreme public power - the constitutional state - can effectively deal with its injustices and synthesize specific interests into a universal political community. From this position, Hegel criticizes the theory of natural law of his day for mixing civil society and the state.

Karl Marx has a special approach to the problem of civil society. K. Marx significantly simplified the complex structure of the Hegelian model of civil society. For him, civil society is the form in which a bourgeois state, based on private property, arose and functions. In such a society, "none of the so-called human rights goes beyond the egoistic person, a person as a member of civil society, that is, as an individual who is closed in himself, in his private interest and private arbitrariness and isolated from the social whole."

Indeed, the idea of ​​civil society arose and developed in connection with the emergence and development of bourgeois relations. It was caused by the need to "pave the way" by theoretical means for the bourgeois social system, unthinkable without freedom of a human being - a commodity producer.

However, as the events of the 20th century have shown, the idea of ​​a civil society is not only not outdated, but, on the contrary, has become even more relevant. It was in the 20th century that the danger of total enslavement of the individual arose. The source of this danger is the overwhelming power of political and state structures, their expansionist claims, extending not only to economic relations, but also on all other spheres of human activity, including the area of ​​spiritual culture. The aggressiveness of these structures was most clearly manifested in the lives of people in those countries where totalitarian regimes, an administrative command order, where an authoritarian style of relations between power holders and ordinary citizens existed and still exists. Therefore, in the XX century, the development of the concept of civil society took place mainly under the banner of criticism of totalitarian regimes, protection of the rights and freedoms of the individual. In modern political theories the idea of ​​civil society was supplemented by the idea of ​​democracy based on political pluralism, general consensus and partnership of competing social groups. The theory of pluralism has become widespread, according to which the main task of a modern democratic society is to achieve a general civil consensus by taking into account and coordinating the many interests of various groups of the population, removing or mitigating contradictions, seeking civil consent, aimed at integrating society.

For a modern understanding of civil society, it is not enough to understand it only from the position of its opposition to state power and, accordingly, to the sphere of realizing public interests. The main thing in the modern, general democratic concept of civil society should be the definition of its own qualitative characteristics of those real social relations, which in the systemic unity can be defined as a modern civil society.

Civil society is not just a kind of volumetric concept that characterizes a certain area of ​​social relations, the limits of which are determined only by the fact that it is “the area of ​​action of private interests” (Hegel). At the same time, “civil society” is neither a legal nor a state-legal concept. The state cannot, is not in a position to "establish", "decree", "establish" by its laws the image of a civil society desirable for it.

Civil society is a natural stage, higher form self-realization of individuals. It matures with the economic and political development of the country, the growth of well-being, culture and self-awareness of the people. As a product of the historical development of mankind, civil society appears in the period of breaking the rigid framework of the estate-feudal system, the beginning of the formation of the rule of law. A prerequisite for the emergence of civil society is the possibility for all citizens of economic independence on the basis of private property. The most important prerequisite for the formation of civil society is the elimination of class privileges and the increase in the importance of the human person, a person who turns from a subject into a citizen with equal legal rights with all other citizens. The political foundation of civil society is the rule of law, which ensures the rights and freedoms of the individual. Under these conditions, a person's behavior is determined by his own interests and he is responsible for all actions. Such a person puts his own freedom above all else, while respecting the legitimate interests of other people.

Since a large power is concentrated in the hands of the state, it can turn into a huge living organism, reminiscent of the biblical monster Leviathan (something between a hippopotamus and sea ​​serpent). Indeed, with the help of officials, the army, the police, the court, it is easy to suppress the interests of social groups, classes and the whole people. The history of the establishment of fascism in Germany and Italy is a vivid example of how the gluttonous, terrible Leviathan devoured society, how its spheres were nationalized, and universal (total) control over the individual was exercised. These open terrorist dictatorships, as you know, have become the most dangerous opponents of social progress.

In this regard, civil society is an objectively established order of real social relations, which is based on the requirements of justice and the measure of achieved freedom, the inadmissibility of arbitrariness and violence, recognized by society itself. This order is formed on the basis of the internal content of these relations, which turns them into a criterion of "justice and a measure of freedom." Thus, the relations that make up civil society acquire the ability to carry certain requirements, normative models of behavior of citizens, officials, government agencies and the state as a whole in accordance with the ideals of justice and freedom.

This means that the ideas of law as the highest justice based on the inadmissibility of arbitrariness and guaranteeing an equal measure of freedom for all members of civil society are embodied in the relations that make up civil society. These are the normative (generally binding) requirements that develop and exist in civil society, regardless of their state recognition and consolidation in laws. But following them on the part of the state is a guarantee that the law in such a society and state acquires a legal character, that is, they not only embody the state's will, but this will fully meets the requirements of justice and freedom.

The legal nature of a civil society, its compliance with the highest requirements of justice and freedom is the first most important qualitative characteristic of such a society. This feature of civil society is embodied in the normative requirements laid down in the content of the categories of justice and freedom. Freedom and justice are, in a civil society, a social factor that normalizes (streamlines) the activities of people, collectives and organizations. On the other hand, the person himself, as a member of civil society, gains freedom as a result of his ability to obey the normative requirements of freedom as a cognized necessity.

The second qualitative characteristic of civil society is functional. It is connected with the fact that the basis for the functioning of such a society is not just the creation of a certain field (space) for the realization of private interests, formally legally independent from state power, but the achievement of a high level of self-organization, self-regulation of society. The main functions of establishing joint activities of members of civil society in certain areas (entrepreneurship and other forms of economic activity, family relations, personal life, etc.) should be carried out in this case not with the help of the tools and means of the state power standing over the society as a "special public authority", but by the society itself on a truly democratic, self-governing basis, but in the sphere of a market economy - primarily on the basis of economic self-regulation. In this regard, the new functional characteristic of civil society does not consist in the fact that the state “generously yields” a certain sphere of private interests to society itself, leaving it at the mercy of solving certain problems. On the contrary, society itself, reaching a new level of its development, acquires the ability to independently, without state intervention, carry out the corresponding functions. And in this part, it is no longer the state that absorbs society, establishing total state forms leadership and control over the development of the relevant spheres, and the reverse process of absorption of the state by civil society takes place: there appears (at least in these areas of "civil life") the primacy of civil society over the state.

In accordance with this, it is possible to single out the third qualitative feature of civil society, which characterizes its highest values ​​and the main goal of its functioning. In contrast to the initial ideas about civil society, based on the absolutization of private interests (their main carriers, of course, are private owners), the modern general democratic concept of a post-industrial civil society should be based on the recognition of the need to ensure an optimal, harmonious combination of private and public interests.

Freedom, human rights and his private interests should be considered in this case not from the position of the egoistic essence of an “economic man” for whom freedom is property, but, on the contrary, property itself in all its diversity of forms becomes a means of affirming the ideals of a liberated person. And this should take place on the basis of unconditional recognition as the highest value of civil society of a person, his life and health, honor and dignity of a politically free and economically independent person.

In accordance with this, one should also approach the definition main goal functioning of modern civil society. The main goal is to satisfy the material and spiritual needs of a person, to create conditions that ensure a dignified life and free development of a person. And the state in this case (in the conditions of a legal civil society) inevitably acquires the character of a welfare state. We are talking about the enrichment of the nature of the state with social principles, which significantly transform its power functions. Establishing itself as social, the state renounces the role of "night watchman" and takes responsibility for the socio-cultural and spiritual development of society.

Taking into account the mentioned qualitative characteristics, it is possible to define the concept of civil society as a system of socio-economic and political relations based on self-organization, functioning in the legal regime of social justice, freedom, satisfaction of material and spiritual needs of a person as the highest value of civil society.

Modern civil society has the following structure:

1. Voluntarily formed primary communities of people (family, cooperation, association, business corporations, public organizations, professional, creative, sports, ethnic, confessional and other associations).

2. The totality of non-state non-political relations in society: economic, social, family, spiritual, moral, religious and others. This is the production and private life of people, their customs, traditions, customs.

3. The sphere of self-manifestation of free individuals and their organizations, protected by laws from direct interference in it by state authorities.

Thus, the structure of civil society in developed countries is a wide network of public relations, various voluntary organizations of citizens, their associations, lobbying and other groups, municipal communes, charitable foundations, interest clubs, creative, cooperative associations, consumer, sports societies, public political, religious and other organizations and unions. All of them express the most diverse social interests in all spheres of society.

A concrete analysis of the basic elements of civil society follows from this.

First, the economic organization of civil society - it society of civilized market relations. The market as a kind of "component" of economic freedom is impossible without the development of independent entrepreneurial activities aimed at systematic profit.

The second structural element of civil society is its social organization... In market conditions, it is very complex, which reflects primarily the differences between individual social groups. Three main groups of the population of civil society can be distinguished: employees, entrepreneurs and disabled citizens. Ensuring a balanced balance of economic interests and material capabilities of these groups is an important area social policy.

Employees need to create economic, social and legal conditions for effective work, fair wages for their work, and broad participation in profits.

With regard to entrepreneurs, measures should be taken to guarantee them freedom of all forms of economic activity, to stimulate their investment in the development of efficient, profitable production of goods and services. As for disabled citizens, they should be provided with targeted social protection, social security and service standards should be defined that will allow them to maintain an acceptable standard of living.

Finally, the third structural element of civil society is its socio-political organization. It cannot be equated with a state-political organization, with public administration society. On the contrary, real democracy of civil society as the basis for ensuring real freedom of the individual becomes possible precisely when society, acquiring the qualities of civil, legal, develops its own, non-state socio-political mechanisms of self-regulation and self-organization. In accordance with this, the so-called political institutionalization of civil society takes place, that is, society self-organizes with the help of such institutions as political parties, mass movements, trade unions, women's, veteran's, youth, religious organizations, voluntary societies, creative unions, communities, foundations, associations and other voluntary associations of citizens, created on the basis of the community of their political, professional, cultural and other interests. An important constitutional basis for the political institutionalization of civil society is the principle of political and ideological pluralism, a multiparty system (Article 13 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). Political and ideological monopoly is alien to the civil society, suppressing dissent and not allowing any other ideology, except the official, state, no other party, except the ruling party - the "party of power." An important condition for ensuring political and ideological pluralism, and, therefore, for the institutionalization of civil society, is the freedom of organization and activity of the media (Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation).

This, however, does not mean the identity of the freedom of the individual “and the legal status of the citizen. Freedom, as already noted, has such a property as normativity. From this it follows, on the one hand, that a person gains freedom as a result of his ability to obey its normative requirements (generally binding rules of behavior). On the other hand, this means that the external form of being of individual freedom is social norms that determine the measure, the permissible limits of freedom. And only in the most important areas that are of increased importance for society or for the person himself, the measure of freedom is determined and normalized by the state itself. This is done with the help of legal regulations, laws. Laws, if they are legal in nature, are in this regard, according to Marx, "the bible of freedom." The main legal means of consolidation, recognition by the state of the achieved freedom of the individual is the constitution.

At the same time, the rights and freedoms themselves, including constitutional ones, on the one hand, are determined by the level of development of civil society, the maturity of its economic, social, socio-political organization; after all, civil society is a social environment where most of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen are realized. On the other hand, the development, deepening of the most important characteristics of civil society as a legal, democratic society, as a society of true freedom and social justice, largely depends on the completeness of human and civil rights and freedoms, the degree of their guarantee, and the sequence of their implementation. In this regard, human and civil rights are a tool for the self-development of civil society, its self-organization. This two-pronged relationship is also consolidated at the state-legal, legal level, when the Constitution and other laws establish the responsibility not only of the citizen to the state, but also of the state to the individual.

The main function of civil society is the fullest satisfaction of the material, social and spiritual needs of its members. Various economic, ethnic, regional, professional, religious associations of citizens are called upon to contribute to the full realization by an individual of his interests, aspirations, goals, etc.

As part of this main function, civil society performs a number of important social functions:

1. On the basis of legality, it ensures the protection of private spheres of life of a person and citizen from unreasonable strict regulation of the state and other political structures.

2. Mechanisms of public self-government are created and developed on the basis of civil society associations.

3. Civil society is one of the most important and powerful levers in the system of "checks and balances", the desire of political power for absolute domination. It protects citizens and their associations from illegal interference in their activities of state power and thereby contributes to the formation and consolidation of the democratic organs of the state, its entire political system. To perform this function, he has a lot of means: active participation in election campaigns and referendums, protests or support for certain demands, great opportunities in shaping public opinion, in particular, with the help of independent media and communications.

4. Institutions and organizations of civil society are called upon to provide real guarantees of human rights and victories, equal access to participation in state and public affairs.

5. Civil society also performs the function of social control over its members. Independently of the state, it has the means and sanctions with which it can force individuals to comply with social norms, to ensure the socialization and education of citizens.

6. Civil society also has a communication function. A democratic society manifests a variety of interests. The widest range of these interests is the result of the freedoms that a citizen has in a democracy. A democratic state is called upon to satisfy the interests and needs of its citizens as much as possible. However, in the conditions of economic pluralism, these interests are so numerous, so diverse and differentiated that the state power has practically no channels of information about all these interests. The task of civil society institutions and organizations is to inform the state about the specific interests of citizens, the satisfaction of which is possible only by the forces of the state.

7. Civil society performs a stabilizing function with its institutions and organizations. It creates solid structures on which all social life is supported. In difficult historical periods (wars, crises, depressions), when the state begins to stagger, it “lends its shoulder” - the strong structures of civil society.

One of the functions of civil society is also to ensure a certain minimum level of necessary livelihoods for all members of society, especially those who cannot achieve this themselves (disabled, elderly, sick, etc.).

Civil society

Civil society is a sphere of self-manifestation of free citizens and voluntarily formed associations and organizations, independent of direct interference and arbitrary regulation on the part of state authorities. According to D. Easton's classical scheme, civil society acts as a filter of society's demands and support for the political system. A developed civil society is the most important prerequisite for building the rule of law and its equal partner. The 1993 Russian Constitution does not use the term “civil society”, and of all the institutions of civil society, only the advocacy is noted in federal legislation.

Civil society is one of the phenomena of modern society, a set of social entities (groups, collectives) united by specific interests (economic, ethnic, cultural, and so on), realized outside the sphere of state activity and allowing control over the actions of the state machine.

Civil society is a concept that denotes the totality of non-political relations in society: economic, social, moral, religious, national and others.

Civil society can also be defined as a set of social relations outside the framework of power-state structures, but not outside the framework of the state as such.

Signs of civil society

• The presence in society of free owners of the means of production;
• Developed democracy;
• Legal protection of citizens;
• A certain level of civic culture;
• the most complete provision of human rights and freedoms;
• self-control;
• competition between the formation of their structures and individual groups of persons;
• freely forming public opinion and pluralism;
• legitimacy.

Civil society concept

In the social sciences, the following main approaches to defining the essence of civil society are distinguished: as an opposition to anarchy; as the opposite of the church; as a complex of social relations opposed to the state; as a specific phenomenon of Western civilization. The history of the development of its concept in Western socio-political thought testifies to the difficulties of the formation of civil society.

T. Hobbes, English philosopher:

Civil society is a union of individuals, a collective in which all its members acquire the highest human qualities. The state prevails over civil society.

J. Locke, English philosopher:

Civil society is a political society, that is public sphere in which the state has its own interests.

C. Montesquieu, French philosopher:

Civil society is a society of enmity between people, which is transformed into a state to stop it.

T. Payne, American educator:

Civil society is a blessing, and the state is an inevitable evil. The more perfect a civil society is, the less it needs regulation by the state.

G. Hegel, German philosopher:

Civil society is the sphere of realizing especially private goals and interests of an individual. There is no genuine freedom in civil society, since there is always a universal contradiction between private interests and power.

K. Marx, F. Engels, German economists and sociologists:

Civil society is a material sphere, economic life and the activities of people. It is this that is primary in relation to the state, civil life as amount

2.1. Structure and basic elements.

· Modern civil society has the following structure:

· 1. Voluntarily formed primary communities of people (family, cooperation, association, business corporations, public organizations, professional, creative, sports, ethnic, confessional and other associations).

· 2. The totality of non-state non-political relations in society: economic, social, family, spiritual, moral, religious and others: this is the production and private life of people, their customs, traditions, customs.

· 3. The sphere of self-manifestation of free individuals and their organizations, protected by laws from direct interference in it by the government.

Thus, the structure of civil society in developed countries is a wide network of public relations, various voluntary organizations of citizens, their associations, lobbying and other groups, municipal communes, charitable foundations, interest clubs, creative, cooperative associations, consumer, sports societies, public -political, religious and other organizations and unions. All of them express the most diverse social interests in all spheres of society.

· A concrete analysis of the basic elements of civil society follows from this.

· First, the economic organization of civil society is a society of civilized market relations. The market as a kind of "component" of economic freedom is impossible without the development of independent entrepreneurial activities aimed at systematic profit.

· The second structural element of civil society is its social organization. In market conditions, it is very complex, which reflects primarily the differences between individual social groups. Three main groups of the population of civil society can be distinguished: employees, entrepreneurs and disabled citizens. Ensuring a balanced balance of economic interests and material capabilities of these groups is an important direction of social policy.

· Employees need to create economic, social and legal conditions for effective work, fair wages, and broad participation in profits.

· With regard to entrepreneurs, measures should be taken to guarantee them freedom of all forms of economic activity, to stimulate their investment in the development of efficient, profitable production of goods and services. As for disabled citizens, they should be provided with targeted social protection, social security and service standards should be defined that will allow them to maintain an acceptable standard of living.

· The third structural element of civil society is its social and political organization. It cannot be equated with the state-political organization, with the state administration of society. On the contrary, real democracy of civil society as the basis for ensuring real freedom of the individual becomes possible precisely when society, acquiring the qualities of civil, legal, develops its own, non-state socio-political mechanisms of self-regulation and self-organization. In accordance with this, the so-called political institutionalization of civil society occurs, that is, society self-organizes with the help of such institutions as political parties, mass movements, trade unions, women's, veteran's, youth, religious organizations, voluntary societies, creative unions, communities, foundations, associations and other, voluntary associations of citizens, created on the basis of the community of their political, professional, cultural and other interests. An important constitutional basis for the political institutionalization of civil society is the principle of political and ideological pluralism, a multiparty system. Political and ideological monopoly is alien to the civil society, suppressing dissent and not allowing any other ideology, except the official, state, no other party, except the ruling party - the "party of power." An important condition for ensuring political and ideological pluralism, and, consequently, for the institutionalization of civil society, is the freedom of organization and activity of the media.

· This, however, does not mean the identity of the freedom of the individual “and the legal status of the citizen. Freedom, as already noted, has such a property as normativity. From this it follows, on the one hand, that a person gains freedom as a result of his ability to obey its normative requirements (generally binding rules of behavior). On the other hand, this means that the external form of being of individual freedom is social norms that determine the measure, the permissible limits of freedom. And only in the most important areas that are of increased importance for society or for the person himself, the measure of freedom is determined and normalized by the state itself. This is done with the help of legal regulations, laws. Laws, if they are legal in nature, are in this regard, according to Marx, "the bible of freedom." The main legal means of consolidation, recognition by the state of the achieved freedom of the individual is the constitution.

At the same time, the rights and freedoms themselves, including constitutional ones, on the one hand, are determined by the level of development of civil society, the maturity of its economic, social, socio-political organization; after all, civil society is a social environment where most of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen are realized. On the other hand, the development, deepening of the most important characteristics of civil society as a legal, democratic society, as a society of true freedom and social justice, largely depends on the completeness of human and civil rights and freedoms, the degree of their guarantee, and the sequence of their implementation. Human and civil rights in this regard are a tool for the self-development of civil society, its self-organization. This two-pronged relationship is also consolidated at the state-legal, legal level, when the Constitution and other laws establish the responsibility not only of the citizen to the state, but also of the state to the individual.

Civil society- a set of citizens who are not close to the levers of state power; the totality of social relations outside the framework of power-state and commercial structures; the sphere of self-manifestation of free citizens and voluntarily formed non-profit-oriented associations and organizations, protected from direct interference and arbitrary regulation by state authorities, as well as other external factors.

A developed civil society is the most important prerequisite for building the rule of law and its equal partner. According to David Easton's classic scheme, civil society acts as a filter of society's demands and support for the political system.

Conditions for the existence of civil society

Civil society concept

In the social sciences, the following main approaches to defining the essence of civil society are distinguished: as an opposition to anarchy; as opposed to the work of the church; as a complex of social relations opposed to the state; as a specific phenomenon of Western civilization. The history of the development of its concept in Western socio-political thought testifies to the difficulties of the formation of civil society.

Stages of the formation of civil society

Three stages of the formation of civil society can be conventionally distinguished:

1. At the first stage, there is a separation of the civil and state spheres of society. The interaction of civil society and the apparatus of state power begins through modern democratic mechanisms (elections, referendums, rallies, petitions, etc.). The predominantly private sphere of public life is developing, various institutions and organizations appear that serve the private interests of people. In this period, the prevailing system of classical capitalism - with private property, market economy, free competition. The main classes at this stage are entrepreneurs and workers. To continue the formation of civil society, a rule-of-law state with a market economic system is needed.
2. Further, not only the private, but also the public sphere of life begins to develop. Civil society, which was forced to independently protect the economic interests of various social strata, transfers these responsibilities to the state, which becomes thanks to this not only legal, but also social. At this stage, the conflict between the interests of capitalists and wage workers is smoothed out, society seeks a compromise between the interests of various social groups. The main place is occupied by the middle class, and the positions of the service class are also strengthening - these are managers, merchants, analysts.
3. At the final stage of the formation of civil society, its globalization and pluralization takes place. The class struggle tends to zero, the polarization of society (enmity between its classes) practically disappears. Different social groups have different interests only because of their cultural characteristics, and not because of enmity with other groups. Various civil society actors work out their own strategies and ways of development, and society itself practices tolerance, tolerance for the entire spectrum of social groups, classes, ethnic groups, etc.

Philosophical postulates

Functions of civil society

The structure of civil society

Civil society is a horizontally structured aggregate of independent public organizations and associations that distanced themselves from government and commercial structures and function in accordance with their goals and objectives for the sake of realizing public interests.

Public organizations unite in accordance with their goals and objectives, as well as within the framework of ongoing projects. For example, on the protection of the environment within the framework of a regional problem. Many educational organizations for example, universities and libraries are organized as non-profit organizations, which allows them to receive grants from various charitable foundations and receive tax incentives from the state.

These organizations are financed within the framework of the announced projects on a competitive basis from many different governmental and non-governmental national and international charitable foundations that also have their own specialization: environmental protection, promotion of democracy in a particular country, protection of human rights, etc. For example, the Rockefeller Foundation supports various educational projects around the world, healthcare projects, etc. or the world's largest Bill & Melinda Gates charity, supporting projects in the field of healthcare and the fight against poverty.

Charitable foundations, through their grant policy, largely manage the activities of non-profit organizations, monitoring, overseeing project implementation, and identifying humanitarian technologies applied in projects.

Historical role

Positive evaluation

• Civil society is an essential element in the system of checks and balances in modern society, allowing to control and restrict the activities of institutions of government and business, preventing violations of the law and their excessive interference in the private life of citizens.
• Civil society makes it possible to effectively promote the interests of various social groups, protect their rights, including through the promotion of legislative initiatives.
• Civil society institutions functioning on the basis of cooperation and cooperation of various social groups smooth out social contradictions and harmonize social relations.

Negative assessment

Significant disadvantage in work public organizations and associations at this stage is that there is not yet a stable, systematic and organized connection between civil formations, which is necessary to create a force capable of influencing the government in cases of violations of human and civil rights and freedoms.

Civil society problems:

The problem of the formation of a civil society is closely related to the problem of interaction between state power and civil society, which in turn is key in the process of state structure, which determines the urgency of this problem. At the moment, the process of forming a civil society is still ongoing. V modern Russia This process is complicated by the lack of a well-coordinated way out to civilized market relations, the absence of a large layer of owners, as well as the low efficiency of the mechanism of legal protection of the individual. Yes, to date, crime has not been reduced to minimum indicators and the legal activity of the population is at a low level. I believe that the problems of forming a civil society are directly related to the education and upbringing of both minors and the entire population of our country. Under the formation of civil society, we must understand that this is a conscious participation of the population in the affairs of the state, and also participation in the formation of higher and local authorities.

Notes (edit)

1. Barenboim P. D. The rule of law as a partner of civil society: to the 150th anniversary of the publication of the concept "State as a work of art", Legislation and Economics, No. 9, 2010
2. Easton D. A. Framework for Political Analysis... London; Sydney; Toronto; New Delhi; Tokyo, 1965
3. Kara-Murza S. G. "Society of Citizens"
4. Petr Baranov, Alexander Vorontsov, Sergey Shevchenko. Social science. Complete reference. - M.: AST: Astrel, 2015 .-- S. 314 .-- 542 p.
5. The main stages and characteristics of modern civil society (Russian). Date of treatment April 13, 2019.
6. Philosophy of law at the beginning of the 21st century through the prism of constitutionalism and constitutional economics- Edition of the Moscow-Petersburg Philosophical Club, M., 2010, p. 29. ISBN 978-5-98856-119-4
7. // Civil Society in Russia and Abroad. - 2019. - Issue. 2. - S. 31–34. -