The state, civil society and social policy: Setting a research agenda

Politikon

Volumn 30, Issue 1, 2003, Pages 3-25

  Friedman, Steven ^a  

^a Director of the Centre for Policy Studies   (South Africa)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85050782324     PISSN: 02589346     EISSN: 14701014     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/0258934032000073888     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. The terms ‘northern’ and ‘southern’ are frequently used in polemic and analysis to denote, not geographic terms, but different sorts of states—the former describing the industrial or post-industrial democracies, the latter middle-and lower-income countries. The use of geographic terms in this way is a dubious practice but is used here (and no doubt in many other analyses) for want of a convenient and appropriately descriptive alternative.
2. A., Gramsci (1971), Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, edited by Quinton, Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell, Smith (London: Lawrence and Wishart).
3. J., Keane (1988), ‘Democracy and Civil Society’, in J., Keane (ed.) Civil Society und the State (London: Verso).
4. J., Dale Davidson and W., Rees-Mogg (1997), The Sovereign Individual: How to Survive and Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State (New York: Simon and Schuster).
5. S., Friedman and M., Reitzes (1995), Democratic Selections? State and Civil Society in Post-Settlement South Africa (Midrand: Development Bank of Southern Africa).
6. Reported in The Star [Johannesburg], 18 July 1991.
7. K., Ohmae (1995), The End of the Nation State: The Rise of Regional Economies (London: Harper Collins).
8. World Bank (1997), The State in a Changing World: World Development Report 1997 (New York: Oxford University Press).
9. To anticipate a familiar objection, this does not necessarily mean that the state is a neutral arbiter: those who govern it inevitably favour some interests over others. But, unless we envision a society in which interest conflicts are resolved by perpetual negotiation, the state must ultimately decide between the policy claims of competing civil society associations and must possess sufficient capacity to enforce that decision.
10. D., Osborne and T., Gaebler (1993), Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector (New York: Penguin).
11. M., Olson Jr (1971), The Logic of Collective Action (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).
12. Cuba, for example, seen by some on the left as a model, ranks 79th in its Human Development Index: United Nations Development Programme (1996), Human Development Report 1996 (New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press), p. 184.
13. S., Maqsood Ali and S., Sirivardana (1996), ‘Towards a New Paradigm for Poverty Eradication in South Asia’, International Social Science Journal [UNESCO], June, pp. 221ff.
14. Francis Fukayama Trust (1995), The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity (New York: Simon and Schuster).
15. D., Budlender and N., Dube (1997), ‘Starting with What We Have—Basing Development Activities on Local Realities: A Critical Review of Recent Experience’, unpublished paper produced for Development Bank of Southern Africa.
16. R., Putnam (1993), Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
17. I am grateful to Xolela Mangcu for material on this approach.
18. The author is grateful to Dr Michael Bratton, Michigan State University, for this insight.
19. T., Rapoo and C., Kihato (1998). Civil Society Organisations: A Survey, report of a South African questionnaire-based survey conducted for the Institute for Development Studies project on civil society in three African countries. Johannesburg, Centre for Policy Studies.
20. S., Friedman (1992), ‘Bonaparte at the Barricades: The Colonisation of Civil Society’, Theoria, 79; ‘An Unlikely Utopia: State and Civil Society in South Africa’, Politikon 18 (2).
21. T., Botha (1992), ‘Civic Associations as Autonomous Organs of Grassroots Participation’, Theoria. 79.
22. N., Chazan (1993), ‘Governability and Compliance During the Transition’, in Riaan, de Villiers (ed.) Governability During the Transition (Johannesburg, Centre for Policy Studies).
23. Perhaps the most influential current work to make this case is R., Putnam, R., Leonardi and R.Y., Nanetti (1993), Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Mailem Italy (Princeton, Princeton University Press). However, this theme can arguably be traced back to de Tocqueville.
24. R., Putnam (1995), ‘Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital’, Washington DC. Journal of Democracy 6(1).
25. M., Mamdani (1995), Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Politics of Lute Colonialism (Kampala: Fountain).
26. Markets cannot, for example, be conceived of without a means of enforcing the law of contract.
27. M., Halfani (1995), The Challenge of Urban Government in Africa: Institutional Adjustments and the Knowledge Gaps (Nairobi: Global Urban Research Initiative).
28. J. S., Migdal (1988), Strong States and Weak Societies: State-Society Relations and State Capabilities in the Third World (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
29. J. J., Linz and A., Stepan (1996), Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe. South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins), p. 11.
30. For an account of ‘civil society’—or quasi-civil society—in the context of state collapse or dysfunction, see, for example: A. Mali, Simon (1995), ‘Urban Societies in Africa’, in R., Humphries and M., Reitzes (eds) Civil Society After Apartheid (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies).
31. C., Charney (1995), Voices of a New Democracy: African Expectations in the New South Africa (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies).
32. C., Ake (1993), ‘The Unique Case of African Democracy’, International Affairs. 69(2), pp. 239–244.
33. L., Stack (1997), Custom and Justice: The Traditional Courts—Problems and Possibilities (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies).
34. C., White (1993), Makhulu padroni? Patron-Clientelism in Shack Areas and Some Italian Lessons for South Africa (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies).
35. See for example: W. Julius, Wilson (1990), The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press); K., Auletta (1983), The Underclass (New York: Vintage Books).
36. See, for example, cases such as the Orangi Pilot Project in Pakistan: C., Kihalo (1997), ‘Who Carries the Can? The Dynamics of Urban Water Supply’, unpublished Centre for Policy Studies paper commissioned by Rand Water.
37. A., Fowler (1997), Striking a Balance: A Guide to Enhancing the Effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organisations in International Development (London: Earthscan).
38. S., Stacey (1997), New Capacities for Old? Public-Private Partnerships and Universal Service Delivery in South Africa, Angola and Mozambique (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies).
39. This is not a reflection on their internal practices, merely a restatement of the point that they are not accountable to an electorate.
40. T. A. M., Simone (1994), In Whose Image? Political Islam and Urban Practices in Sudan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press); J., McGaffey (1997), ‘Domination and Resistance in Zaire: Resisting the Shadow State through the International Trade of the Second Economy’, paper delivered at African Renewal Conference, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; A., Mari Tripp (1997), Changing the Rules: The Politics of Liberalisation and the Informal Economy in Tanzania (Berkeley: University of California Press).
41. P., Nientied and M., Zaaijer (1995), ‘Global Change and Local Economic Development: A Role for Local Government and International Agencies’, Conference on Human Settlements in Changing Global and Economic Processes, Helsinki, 25–27 August, p. 7.
42. J., Logan and T., Swanstrom (1990), ‘Urban Restructuring—A Critical View’, in J., Logan and T., Swanstrom (eds) Beyond the City Limits: Urban Policy and Economic Restructuring in Comparative Perspective (Philadelphia: Temple University Press).
43. The proposal was mooted by a group of ‘alternative’ economists who met during the recent G-8 Summit meeting in Birmingham, UK.
44. For one account of this position see H., McRae (1994). The World in 2020: Power. Culture and Prosperity—A Vision of the Future (London: Harper Collins).
45. F. H., Cardoso (1996), ‘Globalisation and International Relations’ public address, delivered at Jan Smuts House, University of the Witwalersrand, 27 November 1996. Johannesburg, Centre for Policy Studies, SA Institute of International Affairs.
46. A., Carbonar, paper delivered to SA Institute of International Affairs conference on SADC and Mercosur/l, Johannesburg, October 1998 (publication forthcoming).
47. For reservations about regionalism in Africa see C., Landsberg, C., Kabemba and R., Cornwell (1997), Partnership Real Africa: Swedish Donor Assistance. Democratisation and Economic Growth in Africa (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies).
48. M., Reitzes, S., Bam and P., Thulare (1996). One Foot In. One Foot Out: Immigrants and Civil Society in the Winterveld (Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies).