What is civil society?

What is civil society?

The working definition of civil society used to inform the work of the Inquiry has three dimensions:

• Civil society as associational life. Civil society is the ‘space’ of organised activity not undertaken by either the government or for-private-profit business. It includes formal and informal associations such as: voluntary and community organisations, trade unions, faith-based organisations, co-operatives and mutuals, philanthropic organisations, informal citizen groups and social movements. Participation in or membership of such organisations is voluntary in nature. At best, civil society enhances people’s lives, drawing on a range of human motivations which include compassion, altruism and instincts for reciprocity. But civil society associations are not a panacea and are not all necessarily ‘good’ as they also preach intolerance and violence as well as love and generosity.
• Civil society as the ‘good’ society. The term civil society is often used as a short-hand for the type of society we want to live in The Commission has focused on the strength of civil society associations as a means through which values and outcomes such as social justice, solidarity, mutuality and sustainability are nurtured and achieved. Recognising that civil society activity alone will not create a ‘good’ society, the inter-action between and impact of governments, businesses and civil society affects shapes the nature and health of society.
• Civil society as arenas for public deliberation. Civil society is an arena for public deliberation and the exercise of active citizenship in pursuit of common interests. It is the public space in which societal differences, social problems, public policy, government action and matters of community and cultural identity are developed and debated. These public spaces might be physical in nature, such as community centres, or virtual, such as blogs. We may never share a common vision about what a ‘good’ society might look like and how it might be achieved, but we can be committed to a process that allows people of all ages and backgrounds to share in defining how the different visions are reconciled.