International Centre for Democratic Transition conference

Event International Centre for Democratic Transition conference
Date 14 October 2009
Venue Budapest, Hungary
Title Civil Society after 20 Years – An Unfinished Business

The International Centre for Democratic Transition’s third annual conference in Budapest focused on the theme of civil society 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The conference was organized on the premise that civil society today needs greater attention as it plays an important role in transitional countries as well as stable democracies.

The opening remarks by Swedish Ambassador Cecilia Björner noted that civil society itself is undergoing transition, adapting to a changing world order. Civil society, she pointed out, is not static and has to adapt to reality and society. Civil society used to be confined within national borders, but this is no longer the case. ICDT president Ambassador Gyarmati stressed the importance of civil society in the post-transition period in which it needs to adapt to its new role, to remind elected representatives that they are there to serve the people who elected them.

Several speakers noted that the first step countries in democratic transition need to take is to make a thorough assessment of the current situation. Lester Salamon, Director for Civil Society Studies at John Hopkins University, spoke of the need to define the NGO sector. Other conference participants noted that civil society organizations (CSOs) should identify the needs of civil society and highlight possible future challenges. These differ in every country but there are certain features in common, such as repressive domestic structures, political populism and the manipulative strategies of the mass media. Vazil Hudak of CIS Citigroup expressed concern that modern society is characterized by a lack of inspiration, apathy, a lack of visionary leadership, and too much focus on self-interest. Little is spent on civil society development and on educating young leaders.

Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, cited Sweden as an example of a country where the development of democracy has been the result of strong civil society influence. CSOs aim at building trust and communication between people and government. They also bring an element of idealism into politics, the element of internationalism.

The afternoon was organized around three workshops based on civil society experiences in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South-East Europe. The workshops were moderated by notable civil society representatives from each region: Yevyen Bystytsky of the International Renaissance Foundation (Eastern Europe), Nabila Hamza  of Foundation for the Future (Middle East) and Sonja Licht of the Belgrade Fund of Political Excellence (South-East Europe).

Sonja Licht highlighted the fact that civil society cannot be better than society or the state itself, and that we can’t afford the luxury of missing this point any more. A big threat or challenge to South-East Europe is remaining outside the EU, which could mean further isolation for the region. She also pointed out that civil society has introduced some European values, but there is a problem with the second generation of people working in NGOs being a close circle consisting only of the same people.

Many Eastern European countries share the same inherited problems of centralized political power. According to Bystrytsky, this challenges the development of civil society and the promotion of democracy. In Eastern Europe money is not the main issue, while in South-East Europe there is a vibrant civil society but without sufficient funding to work effectively. A major problem in Bosnia-Herzegovina is that a number of large NGOs work on policies and constitutional reform while support for NGOs in rural areas that can teach people how democracy works and can support the grassroots is not sufficient.

In the Middle East, according to Nabila Hamza, changes are visible. The number of CSOs has increased and issues such as the influence of women in the political sphere have been successfully addressed in some countries. A problem in several countries is participation and citizen engagement. Civil society is seen as a service provider and not as an advocate for human rights. Many also see CSOs as elitist. External credibility mechanisms should be considered, such as the backing of religious or government representatives for civil society initiatives in order to gain popular support.

Sandor Koles is Senior Vice President, ICDT. Email s.koles@icdt.hu