Civil Society

Concept and Meanings

 Located strategically at the cross-section of important strands of
intellectual developments in the social sciences
 Centre for Civil Society (CCS-LSE):
arena of un-coerced collective action around shared interests, purposes
and values
embraces a diversity of spaces, actors and institutional forms, varying
in their degree of formality, autonomy and power
Civil societies are often populated by organizations such as registered
charities, development non-governmental organizations, community
groups, women’s organizations, faith-based organizations, professional
associations, trades unions, self-help groups, social movements,
business associations, coalitions and advocacy groups
 Civil Society in the West

 Two-sector world: market or the economy on the one

hand; state or government on the other
 notion that a ‘third sector’ might exist between market
and state somehow got lost in the two-sector view of the
world
 Voluntary Associations, Charities, Non-Profits Foundations,
Non-governmental Organizations
 Inability of the social sciences to predict and understand
the fall of communism in central and eastern Europe;
instrumental in bringing the topic of civil society to the
attention of social scientists in the West
 Debate on civil society: how culture, market and state relate to
each other
 Civil Dialogue initiated by the EU Commission in the 1990s: first
attempt by to give the institutions of society – and not only
governments and businesses – a voice at the policymaking tables in
Brussels
 Increasing recognition that international and national governments
have to open up to civil society institutions
 Transition to post-industrial society: questions on social cohesion
and social participation in a country that is becoming increasingly
heterogeneous and diverse
 civil society refers essentially to the so-called
“intermediary institutions” such as professional
associations, religious groups, labor unions and citizen
advocacy organizations that give voice to various sectors
of society and enrich public participation in democracies
 Civil Society in Pakistan

 Umbrella term for a range of non-state and non-market citizen

organizations and initiatives, networks and alliances operating in a
broad spectrum of social, economic and cultural fields
 Political parties, Non-Governmental organizations, trade unions,
professional associations, philanthropies, academia, independent
and quasi-independent pressure groups and think tanks
 Faith-based organizations, shrines, seminaries, neighborhood
associations, burial groups, Jirgas (council of elders) and savings
groups.
 It is yet to gain currency in popular
 Previous phases of society: councils of elders, neighborhood
associations and shrines
 New groups: created “organically,” through the development of
capitalism.
 The overall impact of the civil society initiatives can be gauged from
the fact that CSOs (civil society organizations) in Pakistan are now
accepted as partners in social and economic development
 Civil society in Pakistan has evolved under the shadow of frequent
military interventions and a debt-ridden and elitist state system
 People-centered development: , human rights, gender equality and
social justice
 Role of civil society organizations: development of NGOs and
advocacy groups in policymaking and monitoring of the
government, has apparently remained minimal
 Faith-based organizations: significant influence on policy drafting
and generation
 Madrasahs and terrorism
 In 2006, Dr. Sarfaraz Naeemi, the head of one of Lahore’s largest
madrasahs, issued a fatwa on suicide bombings and organized
several anti-Taliban rallies and seminars; The Taliban threatened
to stop him on a number of occasions, and in 2009, he was
assassinated in a suicide attack on his school
 Role of the Media
 CSOs are using newspapers, television, radio programs, film and music to
disseminate counter-radical narratives to the Pakistani public.

 Organizations such as the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) are
training citizens in journalism.

 Internationally acclaimed films and documentaries, such as Shoaib Mansoor’s

Khuda Kay Liye and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Children of the Taliban are
popular examples of countering militant propaganda

 Social media represents the newest platform to expand public awareness

campaigns; first-hand accounts and videos featuring the plight of Swatis
under the Taliban rule were widely circulated through Facebook, Twitter and
WhatsApp
 Using social media forums such as Twitter and Facebook to
promote peace initiatives; Online petitions, such as
Amman Ittihad’s “Call for Peace,” which has received over
17,000 signatures

 “A call to youth to bring peace in Karachi,” mobilized

students from universities to participate in a march
against targeted killings in August 2011 when political
violence in Pakistan’s commercial center had escalated to
alarming levels
 Interfaith Social Harmony Pakistani civil society organizations; promoting
religious freedom, tolerance and social harmony through a number of
mechanisms, including interfaith cultural celebrations, inter-ethnic
dialogues, and conflict mediation
 In 2011, just months after the Taliban was driven out of the Swat Valley,
the ‘Idara Baraye Taleem-o-Taraqi’ organized the Simam Festival to
celebrate Swat’s traditional pluralistic culture that had been proscribed
by the Taliban
 The arts and culture NGO, ‘Hast-o-Neest’, promotes works of artisans
across the country and celebrates diverse traditions of poetry, music,
miniature painting and calligraphy
 The Christian Progressive Movement (CPM) of Pakistan
 ‘Taangh Wasaib Organization’, an organization led by a Christian
woman in southern Punjab, promotes social harmony between
Muslim, Christian and Hindu populations by drawing examples from
local Sufi poetry and folklore
 Poverty has facilitated the jihadist recruitment. Militants gain
popular support among low-income families by providing free food,
medical facilities and education. Pakistani organizations like
Jamaatud-Dawa (JuD) (the charitable front for the terrorist group
Lashkar-e-Taiba) feed off of local economic and political
frustrations
 Challenges

 Difficulty in mobilizing diverse groups; Unlike extremist groups

that have developed cohesive platforms, moderate groups remain
fragmented.

 Denial; many fail to grasp the severity of the issue and believe
that terrorist attacks are only isolated incidents, rather than
emblematic of a larger, systemic problem.

 Lack of funding and resources: Most community-based groups do

not receive support from international organizations and rely on
small community donations
 Lack of good governance, financial management, and
communications and media skills; CSOs that lack strategic
vision fall victim to internal disputes, not very well-
coordinated objectives

 Constant security threats, particularly in conflict zones

and their peripheries. Pakistan has become one of the
most dangerous countries for journalists
 Improving CSOs

 Non-Profit Management & Capacity Building Training

 Civic Education Development
 Humanitarian Relief Distribution Training
 Coalition-Building Assistance
 Communications & Media Training
 Social Media Skills Building
 Building a nexus between faith-based and non-faith-based organizations will
increase synergy and coordination of resources within Pakistan to challenge
extremism